Ender's Journey
by EnderFriend284
Summary: Ender has grown bored with the end, and when she finds a mysterious prophecy, it may provide the chance that she has dreamed of. To be able to enter the other realms and have an adventure of her own, just like Shadow did. This is the sequel to Shadow's Story and it is recommended that you read that story first.
1. Operation Library

**A/N: Hey, Ender here. Welcome to this new story. It is a sequel to my other story, _Shadow's Story, _and I recommend reading that first. As always, I hope that you enjoy. On with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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_It has been many years since Teloxen banished Shadow to the End, and they found the strange child there. Since then, she has grown much. But now, she grows bored of this realm and wishes to seek new adventure elsewhere. Shadow is less than thrilled by this, and forbids her to leave. But we all know that people do not always do what they are told._

**Ender's POV**

"Hey Shadow, watch this" I said as I jumped from block to block in a mini parkour course that I had made. When he did not respond, I ceased my jumping, and looked around, noticing for the first time that Shadow was no where to be seen. "Huh, I wonder where he went." I said.

*Do you want me to find him?* asked Mist.

"No way!" I exclaimed "You are always trying to ruin my fun. Here, I have a perfect chance to do things that Shadow does not know about, and the first thing that you want to do is go and find him."

*Fine* grumbled Mist *But I am telling Illusion later*

"You are no fun" I sulked "Why can't we do what I want just once"

*Like what?* asked Mist hesitantly, her voice betraying the curiosity that she was obviously feeling.

"Oh, I have the best idea" I said "But you have to guess what it is. Go on, guess."

*Fine* sighed Mist *Um, is it insane death parkour over the void?*

"No silly" I said "Although, that does sound fun. We are going to go read in the library."

When several seconds had passed without any signs from me that I was joking, Mist said *I suppose that you have some twist to this other than just going to Shadow's library. I know that you do not enjoy it there very much.*

"It is only boring because it is all informational books that tell you how to do spells. He keeps all of the best books in his private secret library. And that it where we are going to go."  
*Shadow has a secret library?* said Mist *Why didn't I know that?*

"Uh, I don't know" I said sarcastically "Maybe because it is a secret library. They do not usually announce secrets to the world."

*I suppose* muttered Mist *But you know we are going to get into bunches of trouble if Shadow catches us.*

"Do not worry" I said "If we are caught, I will take the blame."

*A likely story* Mist muttered.

"What was that?" I asked sweetly, pretending that I had not heard what Mist had said.

*Oh nothing* sighed Mist *I suppose it could not hurt, as long as we are careful*

"Great" I said happily "Let's go. I found a map to where the library is."

*Be careful* said Mist as I almost missed the last jump of my parkour. *This shall be exciting for all the wrong reasons if we fall off of this.*

After finishing my parkour and sneaking into Shadow's castle, I pressed up against the wall next to the door frame of the main library.

*You know that you do not have to sneak into the main library* said Mist.

_Yeah, I know_ I thought to Mist _But I would rather that Shadow did not see me go in there. It might keep him from discovering us in his secret library._

I slipped through the doorway and sighed in relief as I saw that Shadow was not inside the library. I crept towards the rows of book shelves that filled the majority of the room.

A footstep in the corridor caused me to dash behind the nearest row of shelves. I poked my head around the edge of the bookcase and glimpsed the dark shape of an Enderman walking down the hall. I whipped the sweat off of my forehead in relief. Shadow had had not yet stumbled upon me.

*Well someone is cautious today* said Mist.

"Be quiet" I whispered "Someone will hear you."

*Now how would they do that?* asked Mist *You are the only one who can hear me right now.*

_Oh right_ I thought to her _How silly of me_.

*Can we get on with this?* asked Mist *The longer we wait here, the higher the chance that we will end up being found.*

_Right _I thought _Let us do this._

I walked slowly down the rows of books until I reached the back of the room. I then pulled out a piece of paper with a carefully drawn schematic of the room drawn on it.

*What is that?* asked Mist.

"It is the map that I found" I said.

Looking between the map and the shelved in front of me, I located a small section of books that had been circled in the picture. I pushed the books aside gently, all the while hoping that I was not accidentally triggering some hidden trap.

When moved, the books revealed a slightly darkened patch on the wall, which if stumbled upon, could easily be dismissed. I knew better though. I pressed the spot, and it gave slightly.

*I do not think that it worked* said Mist *Something should open up right away if it is working.*

Before I could respond to her, I heard the sound of pistons retracting and felt the floor beneath me retract. Then I was falling, and it took all of my willpower to keep myself from crying out, knowing that it would bring the Endermen and I would be in heaps of trouble. Mist however, had no such problems, and I could hear her screaming about how we were going to die as we fell.

I was expecting a painful stop when we reached the end of our fall, and so I was pleasantly surprised when I fell into a small pool of water instead.

_Relax Mist_ I thought to her_ We do not know if Shadow is down here, and if you are screaming like that, Illusion can probably hear it._

*Maybe he will come and find us then* said Mist hopefully *I do not want to be stuck down here, especially if I have to listen to you.*

_Gee, thanks_ I thought _It is nice to know that you care._

*I was insulting you, not praising you* said Mist in confusion.

_It is called sarcasm_ I thought _Look it up._

One thing that drove both me and Shadow crazy was that neither Mist or Illusion seemed to get what sarcasm was. No matter how many times we told them, they just did not get that sometimes we meant pretty much the opposite of what we said. Maybe sarcasm did not exist in their society before, but whatever the reason, it sure could get annoying.

*Fine I will* said Mist *There is no need to act so smug about it.*

Rolling my eyes, because, once again, sarcasm had not been recognized, I pulled myself out of the pool of water that I had fallen into.

"Anyway, look. We are not stuck in some trap like you said mist, we are in Shadow's secret library."

*How do you know that?* asked Mist suspiciously. At times like this, I really wished that I could smack Mist. But since she is just an annoying spirit tat lives in me, I had no such luck. The closest I could get to hitting her was smacking myself, but that would mostly hurt me, and so it was pointless.

"There are bookshelves all over" I said to Mist "And many of them have warding spells on them to keep magic in. So unless Shadow fills all of his traps with valuable reading material, I think we are in the right place."

*Fine you win this time* said Mist *But next time, I will prove you wrong.*

"You can dream" I said.

I pulled out one of my ever burning torches and stuck it onto the wall so that I could see what else was present in the room. I saw I lever in the corner of the room, and Mist said *turn on the lever. I dare you.*

"No way" I said "It could be connected to anything. Sure it probably only turns the lights on, but it could also trigger an alarm that will bring Shadow here. Are you willing to risk that? Well I am not. I just want to look around and see if anything looks interesting."

Mist began to talk in response to me, but I ignored her, instead walking alongside the bookshelves that lined the walls. As I was walking, something on one of the bookshelves caught my eye. A piece of paper stuck out a bit farther than the books. I reached out and took hold of the paper, drawing it out from between the books, being careful not to tear it.

I was about to look at what had been written upon it, when I sensed that my action had triggered a hidden magic alarm.

*We need to get out of here!* said Mist.

"No really" I said "But I do not know how to get out of here."

I had begun searching frantically for a way out of the room when I sensed Shadow's presence drawing closer.

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**A/N: I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please consider leaving a review, as it helps me to know what you guys enjoy. You can also leave questions for the characters, and they will be answered in a later chapter. I hope that you have a great day, and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye :D**


	2. The Prophecy

**A/N: Hey, Ender here. I only have three more days of school left, so soon I will be able to write more often. It feels like the world is teasing me though because my school year has run so long that all the TV channels are on summer schedules already. Snow days are fun when they happen, but a pain when you have to make them up. On with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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I was snapped back to reality after my horror at discovering that Shadow was coming when Mist said *Hey Ender, if you want to get us out of here before Shadow finds us, then we better find a way out of here now, if not sooner.*

"Yeah" I said "Well I guess that this is the time to risk pulling that lever that we saw earlier."

*All caution thrown to the wind?* asked Mist *Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but I am in.*

"Lets do this!" I said, shoving the paper into a pocket and racing over to the lever. I pulled down on the lever and waited with bated breath to see what was going to happen, knowing that every second that ticked by brought us closer to a confrontation with Shadow.

After five precious seconds, a pair of blocks were retracted into the wall and a small staircase was revealed. I ran to it, and once inside, Mist said *Aren't you forgetting something?*

"Oh, right. Thanks" I said. I reached back and flicked the switch upwards once more, so that the stairway would be hidden once more. I then ran up the stair set as fast as my legs could carry me. As I ran, I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, a reminder that I needed to be more careful if I did not want to have to run like a crazy person every time that I did something.

I reached the top of the staircase at last, and located a small button, which when I pressed it, opened the seemingly impenetrable wall in front of me. I saw that the passage led out into the corridor not far from the library. As the door began to close, I dashed out into the corridor, all the while hoping that no one was around to see my sudden appearance from within a solid wall.

*Yeah* said Mist *Thinking about that, appearing from withing solid objects is not exactly inconspicuous*

I continued to run as I rounded the corner of the hallway, and almost crashed into Shadow because Mist's talking had kept me from looking where I was going. I avoided Shadow at the last second and instead smashed face first into the wall of the corridor. Lets just say that it was not a comfortable experience for either my body or my pride.

"Are you ok?" asked Shadow, his voice laden with concern that I was sure he would wish he had not given if he knew where I had been.

"Yeah" I said, trying to regain my composure before Shadow asked any more questions. I could lie if I had to, but I would prefer not to, if only to ensure that I would not have to come up with an elaborate situation under pressure.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" asked Shadow. His deceptively curious voice held a note of his true feeling. He could tell that something weird was going on and wanted to know what I knew about it and how I was involved.

"Oh nowhere special" I said casually "I just was really bored and thought, what better thing to do than run randomly up and down hallways."

"You know how I feel about running in my castle" said Shadow in annoyance.

"Of course I do" I said cheekily "Why do you think that I do it so often?"

*Yeah* said Mist, projecting her thoughts so that Shadow could hear her *That is how you get her to do things. You specifically tell her not to do them, and they are done quick as a flash.*

"Do you have to give away all of my secrets" I complained to Mist. "Anyway, I am just going to be heading back to my room now, so I will just be going now."

"Yes, I suppose that is for the best." said Shadow distractedly "What I am going to do will be easier if others are not around to distract me."

I watched as Shadow walked away from me and rushed towards the library. Laughing slightly to myself, I then skipped down the hallway to my rooms. Since only me and Shadow lived in the castle, we both had many rooms within it.

*That went crazy well* said Mist *Shadow must really be worried about the fact that someone was in his secret library.*

"I know right" I said "He only gets distracted like that when something happens that really needs his direct attention. It is pretty ironic actually."

*Lets get to your rooms though* said Mist *It would be horrid if we pulled this whole thing off, only to get in trouble for not being in the proper area of the castle when Shadow comes calling.*

We headed off through the many twists and turns of the castle until we reached a section of the castle where the decor changed suddenly. Instead of the cream endstone walls with a dark stripe of obsidian two blocks up the wall, there were randomly placed splashes of color all over the wall, so that almost none of the original color was showing.

*You know that Shadow hates what you did to the walls* said Mist.

"Of course I do" I said "It is fabulous. And you do not know how hard it was to get all of the materials to make the dye. But it was totally worth it."

*I do know how long it took* said Mist *I was there*

"Oh yeah" I said "Well lets get to my room. Then we can see what this paper says, and why it was guarded like it was."

When we reached my bedroom after a few minutes of traveling down crazily painted hallways, I sat down on my bed and pulled out the small piece of paper that I had taken from Shadow's library. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that the paper had not been damaged when I had shoved it into my pocket.

Squinting to read the slightly faded writing, I began to read it aloud. I do not know why, but it seemed like it was something that needed to be spoken aloud in order to get the full meaning.

"The Prophecy of the Four Realms" I read "Well I guess that it is some kind of prophecy. But why would Shadow have tried so hard to keep it hidden?"

*Keep reading* suggested Mist *Maybe it will become clearer then.*

Heeding Mist's words, I continued to read the prophecy.

"_A day will come, in future time,_

_When a dark lord rules from foulest crime._

_Away are locked many who would oppose,_

_And he makes allies out of old foes._

_A lord of stars shall bring his fall,_

_And restore peace for many and all._

_ But by the star lord's side there must be,_

_an ally from every realm who's free,_

_of the tempting call of darkness' power._

_If the dark choice comes in triumph's hour,_

_Then in that one's hands the choice does lie,_

_For peace to live or peace to die."_

As I finished reading the words, I remained silent, thinking about the dark message that this prophecy spoke of.

*Hey* said Mist, breaking into my thoughts *Since the prophecy speaks of someone from each realm having to be there, maybe one of them is you.*

"I guess I had not thought of that" I said "But it could be you too you know."

*Somehow I doubt it* said Mist *But hey, does it really matter? Wherever you go, I have to come too.*

"Fair enough" I said. Then a thought that excited me greatly crossed my mind. "Hey, this could be our chance to have our own adventure." I said.

*Then what are we waiting for?* asked Mist *Lets get some supplies and then we can use that portal spell you found last week to teleport us to another realm.*

"But what about Shadow?" I asked "I may enjoy annoying him, but I do not want to leave him alone here. The Endermen are not the most interesting of creatures most of the time."

*Well he will have Eclipse* said Mist, speaking of my dragon friend. *She shall keep him company. And anyway, there are portals in the Overworld that will bring us here. There used to be one here that took you to the Overworld, but it was destroyed.*

"How do you know that?" I asked.

*Illusion told me* said Mist *You were spaced out as usual.*

Reassured that I would have a way back to this realm even after leaving, I began rummaging through the piles of things that littered my room to see if I could find the book with the portal spell that I had stumbled upon in the library.

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**A/N: And so we reach the point when Ender is preparing to leave for the Overworld. How much will have changed since Shadow was banished to the End? If you enjoyed this chapter, consider leaving a review. I also need questions for characters, which will be answered in upcoming chapters once I get some. Have a fabulous day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D **


	3. Shadow's Discovery

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank Cloud of Swirling Storm**** and a guest for reviewing this week. In other news, I am finally out of school, so I should have more time to write. Hurray! On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Shadow's POV**

After leaving Ender standing in the hall, I rushed towards the library, wondering what she thought I was doing, running towards, of all places, the library, like it was a matter of life or death.

*It could be* said Illusion *A matter of life or death I mean. It all depends on what was disturbed, and by who.*

"True" I said "Well I guess that we will just have to wait and see."

I turned into the archway that led to the main section of the library and sprinted down the narrow passages between two of the tall bookcases, not slowing until I reached the back of the room. I then located the button that opened the secret access way to my library. I pushed the button and waited a few agonizing seconds before the trap door activated and dropped me down into the pool of water that was located at the bottom of the chute. It took me only a moment once I reached the bottom and took a look around to see that there was no one in the library other than myself.

*D not be so hasty* said Illusion *It is possible for creatures to hide from your detection.*

"Fine" I grumbled "I will use a more elaborate system to prove my point." I pushed a button, and every unoccupied space in the room was filled with a magic fog that would reveal any hidden creature by showing the space where there was no mist. There were a few ways to avoid it, but I had learned to detect those with relative ease.

When I did not see any shapes revealed within the fog, I said to Illusion "See, what did I tell you."

*I suppose that you were correct* said Illusion in annoyance *This time anyway.*

"Be quiet" I said "There is no need for that."

*Fine* muttered Illusion *I will be quiet while you do all of the important stuff and do not listen to a word I say.*

Ignoring Illusion, for even acknowledging what he said would have been an invitation for him to continue. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that had names of all of the sections of the library printed on it. One of the test sections was highlighted in red to indicate that it was the one who's seal had been messed with. I went over to the section and tapped into the magic warding that surrounded it. I had built a spell into the system that would detect the characteristics of whoever had broken the seal. It would take quite a lot of time for me to figure out who exactly had done it based on the cryptic spell, but it was fairly easy to determine what species the creature who had invaded my library belonged to.

"But...what?" I gasped as I read what the magic was telling me "This does not make any sense?"

*What does not?* asked Illusion.

"Well, this magic detects what species tampered with my magic, and since we know that someone was defiantly here, then it should have detected something, and yet it detects nothing."

*Question* said Illusion *If it detects things like that about the ones who disrupt the magic, then why doesn't it detect you?*

"Oh, I put in a magic strand that negated my species traits so that it does not pick them up." I trailed off as I realized what that meant.

Illusion completed my thought when he said *You made a spell that rejects your characteristics. You do realize that means only one person could have been here.*

"I never thought that she would find her way here" I said.

*You underestimate her far too often.* said Illusion *What, if anything, was taken anyway?*

I glanced at the shelf and at first, I thought that nothing had been taken. Then, I realized that one, very important thing was missing from the shelf. One, that if it fell into the wrong hands, could lead to the destruction of many.

"She took the prophecy!" I exclaimed "No! We have to get it back from her before she reads it."

*Somehow I think we are too late for that* said Illusion *If she is the one that the prophecy speaks of, as you fear for it would put her into great danger, then it is irrelevant how hard you try to protect her. The prophecy will seek out those who must bring it to pass no matter what.*

"No" I said, "I do not care what you say. The conflict is between me and Teloxen. I will do anything to keep Ender out of this."

*Look Shadow* said Illusion *I know that you care deeply for Ender, and I respect that. But she is not a child any more. She is growing up, and if you do not let her find her own way, then she will do it anyway, and will hate you for it. Believe me, I know. And once that happens, it is very hard to go back to what you had before.*

"No Illusion" I said "I am going to do this my way, and you can not stop me."

*Very well* sighed Illusion *I have warned you, and that is all that I can do.*

I opened the passageway to leave my library, and traveled along it, all the while resolving that as soon as I saw Ender, I would demand that she return the prophecy and forget any ideas of leaving.

I was about to go towards Ender's room where she had said that she would be, when an Enderman teleported to a place not far in front of me.

"Do you know why Ender was going through the supplies earlier?" it asked "Is she going on some type of trip that we have not been told about?"

"Not if I can help it." I said "Did she say where she was going?"

"No" said the Enderman "But I would assume that it would be her magic room. I heard her tell Mist that they needed to gather the materials for some spell or another."

*Oh great* sighed Illusion *You guys have such a wonderful track record with spells that I am sure nothing could possibly go wrong.*

"I see that you have learned how to use sarcasm" I said in a resigned tone "That is just great."

I headed off towards Ender's magic room, trying to get what Illusion had said out of my head. He could not possibly be right, could he? I shook my head a few times in an attempt to clear the thoughts that plagued me as I stood in front of the door to Ender's magic room.

I was about to knock on the door when a slight draft pulled open the door just enough to allow me to peer in. Figuring that it would be a good idea to know what I would be dealing with before talking to Ender about it, I glanced through the narrow slit provided by the open door. The sight I saw filled me with dread.

"No it can not be!" I gasped "Why would she do this?"

*I am not surprised* said Illusion *You made her feel like she was trapped and this is the only way she could find to free herself. Finding the prophecy merely provided the last little but of persuasion that she needed in order to leave. Let her go.*

"I will not" I said with determination as I pushed open the door.

Ender spun around in surprise when I walked through the door. "What are you doing her?" she asked in surprise.

"Oh, just getting back what belongs to me" I said "Now give me the prophecy and we can forget about this."

"No way" said Ender "I am going to use this portal to go to the Overworld, and maybe the prophecy will let me have my own adventure."

I was about to forbid Ender to go, when I felt Illusion take control of my body.

*What are you doing?* I asked him.

_What needs to be done_ said Illusion. To Ender, he said "Go now. I do not know how long I can keep Shadow from taking control again, and preventing you from going."

"Got it" she said. Then she grabbed a few last things out of a nearby chest and stood at the rim of the portal, gazing into its depths. It resembled the endgate that I had built so long ago, but it lacked a frame, and instead of shades of green, blue and gray, the star-like specks within it glittered in shades of red and purple. Stunned for a moment by what illusion had chosen to do, I had not put up any kind of resistance. Now though, I tried to force Illusion to allow me control of my body once more. I knew that I would be able to gain control after a while, but it would not be in time for me to stop Ender from leaving. I watched, full of despair as Ender jumped through the portal and disappeared from this realm.

I ceased my battle against Illusion's defense, and did nothing, shocked at what had just happened.

*You have to understand I did this not only for Ender, but you as well.* said Illusion, allowing me control over my body once more.

"I am just worried about her" I said sadly "I want her to be safe. My family is not always considerate of others,"

*She will find those who can help her* said Illusion *You can be sure of that.*

"I hope you are right" I said as I watched the portal in the center of the room snap close.

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**A/N: I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are always appreciate, and I still am in need of questions for the characters to answer. I hope that you have a great day, and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	4. The First Night

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I don't have anything to say so on with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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The trip from the End to the Overworld is one that I will never forget. Before leaving the End, I had transformed out of my Enderkind form, as Mist had suggested that my wings, tail and antennae would draw unwanted attention in the Overworld. Apparently, Crafters were suspicious of creatures who did not look like themselves.

When Shadow barged into my room, that he was trying to stop me from leaving, as he is overprotective most of the time. Well all of the time in fact. What had really surprised me was that Illusion had stepped in to stop Shadow from preventing me from leaving. I had thought that Illusion would always side with Shadow, but apparently that was not the case. As I jumped through the portal, I lost consciousness.

When I awoke, it was as if all of the light had been taken from the world.

*It is magic blindness* said Mist *It is sometimes a side effect of unstable portals. It should go away after not too long.*

All of a sudden, I heard a strange sound from behind me.

"What was that?" I gasped.

*I do not know.* said Mist, a note of concern in her voice *You have to remember that I can not see if you can't. Just stay still and quiet and maybe whatever it is will not notice you.*

I sat perfectly still on the ground where I had arrived in the realm, hoping that the creatures would not find me. After a few minutes, I felt the faint warmth that had filled the world lessen, and I said to Mist _I think that it is really night now_.

*It would seem so.* she agreed *But I think that your vision is recovering, so that is good.*

_Yeah_ I agreed_ At least I will be able to see what is going on._

A loud twanging noise sounded, and I felt a breeze brush against my cheek. Instinctively, I turned to see what had passed by me, and saw with my partly returned vision, a thin spike with a feathered end sticking out of the block next to me.

*It seems that someone is shooting at us.* observed Mist *I wonder who or what it is.*

"Right now I am not that worried about finding out" I whispered "I would much rather focus on staying alive if you do not minds."

*Right, my bad.* apologized Mist. Another arrow impeded itself in the tree above my head. This caused my instincts to kick in. I did not care that I could barely see, all I knew was that I wanted to get away from what was shooting me. I jumped up from where I was huddled under a tree and ran in the opposite direction from where the arrows has emerged from. As I ran, my vision began to improve, just enough so that I was able to avoid running into any of the trees that were all around me.

I stopped suddenly and stood perfectly still when I saw a group of figures standing not far in front of me.

_Who are they?_ I asked Mist.

*I do not know.* she said.

_And why are they moaning?_ I asked.

*Um I do not think that they are Crafters* said Mist *I think that they are zombies. That means that you should run.*

I stood still for a moment, indecisive of if I should run or stay put where I was. The choice was taken from me when one of the zombies noticed me and started to stumble towards me slowly but surely. This made up my mind, and I ran off in another direction, hoping that no other creatures of the night would find me.

I was not to be so lucky though. Not soon after leaving the grove filled with zombies, I heard a pattering sound, resembling the movement of many feet coming from above me. Writing it off as just my imagination, I continued on my way, wondering how I was going to accomplish anything if I was constantly trying to protect myself from the creatures of the night. I also wondered why I had not seen Crafter activity of any kind, ad I thought they were extremely active in this realm.

*I think that you just got unlucky* said Mist *And you have only been able to travel through a small area, in the dark as well. Crafters are found all over, I am sure that it will not be too long before we meet one.*

The pattering sound increased both in speed and volume. Then a pair of gigantic spiders seemed to fall from the sky and land one in front, one in back of me.

*They jumped out of the trees* said Mist *You need to get out of here otherwise they are going to wreck you.*

_How?_ I asked Mist_ They are blocking the only ways that I could run._

It was true. The spiders blocked the way behind and in front of me, and tightly packed trees blocked my other routes of travel.

*I do not know* said Mist *Figure something out. Why do I have to have all of the answers.*

I was about to protest that I had no idea what to do either in this situation, when I heard the distinct sound of an Enderman teleporting not far from me. The tall black figure came over to the spiders and said "This one is under my protection. Do not harm her."

"Of course" chittered one of the spiders "We would not have even considered such a thing if not for the fact that she is a Crafter, and they are not usually under your people's protection."

I was about to protest that I was not a Crafter when mist said *Perhaps it is better that they believe you are of this realm. The fewer creatures who know of who you truly are, the better the chances of staying under Teloxen's radar.*

Mist's words made sense, and so for once I decided to keep my mouth shut. The spiders crawled off into the forest after taking one last look at the Enderman to make sure that they were not to be followed.

Once they were gone, the Enderman asked "Are you ok child?"

"Yeah, I am ok" I said. Then a thought occurred to me. "How did you know I needed help anyway?"

"I was just in the area and sensed that a friend was in trouble." said the Enderman "I would have don it for any of our allies."

"Well thanks for the help" I said "But I shall be going now, so goodbye." I stared into the Enderman's eyes, knowing that it made them uncomfortable, and silently dared him to protest. After a few seconds of this, the Enderman made a gesture of farewell and teleported away, to places unknown, and I was alone once more in the depths of the nighttime forest. Before now, I had not truly considered the implications of being alone in the dark. But now, after the spiders had attacked me, I felt as if a creature lurked behind every tree and tuft of grass.

I walked slowly between the tree trunks, which were spaced farther apart here, almost as if they marked a corridor for the passage of creatures of the night. After every few paces, I felt the urge to turn and look behind myself, for I felt that I was being followed. Each time though, my searches saw nothing more than the bare tree trunks that were all around me.

*Stop worrying* said Mist *The dark brings paranoia to many, and rarely is there a reason for concern* Not long after Mist had said this, I heard a faint hissing noise coming from directly behind me right when I was about to turn and look to see if I had been snuck up upon in the few moments since I had last checked.

I was going to turn around and see what creature of the night had hidden itself behind me, when a figure stepped out from behind some low hanging branches and said in a quiet voice that somehow managed to reach my ears quite clearly despite the noises of the forest all around me "Do not turn, do not move. We would not want the Creeper to be startled and blow you up now would we."

Standing perfectly still, I dared to move my eyes to watch the strange figure as they approached me. The figure was about an inch shorter than me, and moved with a confidence that I envied, as if the dark and noise filled forest was where they belonged. I wished that I could feel that confident about being here, but I felt out of place, even though my Crafter form allowed me to conceal my wings, antennae and tail. The figure reached a spot behind me, and I heard a male voice conversing with what I assumed was the Creeper.

After a few moments, the figure reappeared and said "You can move now."

I turned to see that the Creeper had moved a little way off from where I was standing. The figure had also pushed back his hood, revealing messy brown hair and light, gray-green eyes. He appeared to be looking me over, and I self consciously brushed back a strand of my long black hair out of my eyes.

After a moment, he said "You are hurt. Is it bad?" Confused, I followed his gaze to a place on my arm where there was a long cut. I must have gotten it at some point during the night and not have noticed it due to the adrenaline flowing through me. Now that I realized I was I wounded, the pain showed itself, making me sway unsteadily.

"Here, let me help you" said the figure, carefully taking hold of my uninjured arm and guiding me into a sitting position "I am Izra. And you?"

"Ender" I said, wincing a bit as another flash of pain appeared as he moved my arm to where he could see it more easily. He pulled out a torch and lit it so that he could examine my arm. As he did so, he turned to me in surprise and asked "You are not from around here are you?"

Trying to appear clam when I was frantically trying to figure out how he could have figure that out, I asked "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are not from this area. A few things give it away" said Izra "For one thing, few Crafters stay out at night unprepared, and the ones that do usually hide in tiny dirt huts. Also, any Crafter knows that Creepers are dangerous and should be avoided."

"You did not" I pointed out "Why is that?"

"It is complicated" said Izra "The real reason that I know you are not from around here is that you have purple blood."

*Busted* laughed Mist *He has got you all figured out*

_Shut it Mist_ I thought. To Izra, I said "Well now that you know, please do not tell anyone. I do not want them to hunt me."

"Why would they do that?" asked Izra in confusion.

I sighed. He had figured out so much, and yet he still did not understand what I was.

"I am one of the Enderkind" I said "and I have heard that we are not exactly welcome around here."

"Well you are right about that" said Izra "If anyone else had found you, they probably would have killed you or brought you to Steve or Notch. Fortunately for you though, I am the one who found you. Now let's get your arm bandaged up and I will take you with me to where I stay. You will have to act like a Crafter though, otherwise you will be in great danger.

"Got it" I said "I hop it is not a mistake to trust you"

"So do I Ender" said Izra "So do I."

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**A/N:I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and leave questions for the characters. I ****hope that you all have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	5. Race to the Castle

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank teenage vampire (Guest) for reviewing this week. I posted a new one-shot this week as well, and am in need of ideas for more, so if you have any that you would like to see made into stories you can PM me with them or leave them in a review. But enough about that, on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Ender's POV**

After Izra had finished attending to my arm, he said to me "Stay close. The creatures of the night should leave you alone if you are with me."

"That is good" I said "I do not want to have any more encounters with them if I can help it."

*Ask how he was able to make the Creepers leave you alone.* said Mist *Most Crafters just run away when Creepers are around.*

"Uh, Izra" I asked "How come you did not cause the Creeper to explode?"

"Well it is a bit complicated" admitted Izra "And I do not like to tell people about it, but I suppose that I can trust you."

"Why don't you like to talk about it?" I asked curiously.

"Well, other Crafters would probably think that I was plotting with the Creepers to lead an uprising. Crafters are a group that are suspicious by nature."

"Oh, ok" I said.

"So anyway" said Izra "The reason that the Creepers listen to me and do not explode me is that I am a lord of Creepers. Steve, who am sure you know of, took me in as his apprentice, and when I am trained, I will help him to manage the realm."

"So you are a lord of Creepers" I said "That is cool." I decided to tell Izra one of the secrets that Mist had recommended that I keep to myself.

*Are you insane?* asked Mist *What if he can not be trusted?*

_Well then that it too bad_ I thought to her. To Izra, I said "I have something that I want to tell you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else unless I give you permission."

"Sure" said Izra "What is it?"

"I am a lord too" I said "Or a lady I guess, I do not know if Crafters use the gender neutral form or not."

"It depends" said Izra "But that does not matter. Please continue. What are you a lord of?"

"Endermen" I said.

Izra's mouth fell open in astonishment. The he said "Well I guess that does explain why you act differently than other Crafters I have met."

"Yeah" I said "I have not ever been here before, and the End is a lot different than this realm.

"Oh" said Izra, his surprise growing, if that was possible, for his initial surprise had been pretty high. "I did not know that realm could be escaped from. No one who has set out to search for it has ever returned."

"Well it is possible, but not easy. That is for sure" I said "Anyway, shouldn't we go somewhere, I don't know, a little bit safer to finish this. I can hear the creatures getting close, and I do not think they want to play."

"Good call" said Izra "Most of the mobs around here recognize me, but you are a stranger, and to be honest, even they are not all that comfortable around Endermen. They probably have you associated with them already."

"What is a mob?" I asked, wondering if there were Overworld creatures with such a name that had been created since Shadow had been banished."

"Mobs are what you call creatures of the night." explained Izra "Crafters call them that, but I am not sure where the term originated. However, if you are going to pass yourself off as a Crafter, then it is a term that you must know and use."

"Got it" I said, mentally preparing myself for the task of keeping all of the strange ways of Crafters straight so that I could pass as one of their kind.

"Take my hand" said Izra.

"Why?" I asked quietly, wondering what he was planning on doing.

"Relax" said Izra "I am not trying to flirt with you, or do any other things like that. I just figured that since you are in a Crafter form, you would not be able to see in the dark. I do not want you to wander off and get eaten by spiders or something."

"Fair enough," I sighed, allowing him to grip my wrist "But no funny business."

"Believe me, I would not dare" said Izra dryly "Cresilia would kill me."

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" I asked

"No" said Izra "She is Steve's wife, and most of the time she also acts like my mother. She is also the current lady of the Creeper kingdom, which means that she can spy on me all the easier because Creepers report to her. It is just one of the many joys of being me."

"Steve is married?" I asked "When did this happen? And why is he married to the leader of one of the creatures that he fears most."

"One question at a time." said Izra "Yes he is married, it happened when I was little, and I guess he married her because he liked her a lot."

"Ok" I said "I will stop asking questions now. Otherwise we will not make it to wherever we are going before the sun rises."

"Yes" said Izra "We need to get there before then. Otherwise they will know that I snuck out, and I will be in huge trouble."

"And the fact that I am there will not give away the fact that you snuck out?" I asked.

"Hey, I thought that you were done with questions" said Izra accusingly.

"I guess I was wrong" I said.

*Oh can we get this over with already* asked Mist *I want to do something more interesting than listen to you two banter for hours*

"You do make a good point thought" admitted Izra "I suppose that we will have to think of something on the way to where we are going."

"Where are we going" I asked "Here I am, all ready to go with you, and you have not even revealed our destination."

"Oh, I had thought I told you" said Izra "We are going to Steve's castle."

"Gee" I said "That sounds like the absolute safest place for me to go, because as you know, I am trying to stay undercover."

"Yeah, I know" said Izra "But there is no where else that I can take you. Unless you want to live in a tiny dirt cave."

"No thanks" I said "I think that I will risk the castle."

"Well since we got that sorted out" he said "Let's go."

We walked through an area of the forest that seemed no different from the rest of the forest surrounding us. I hoped that Izra actually knew which way we were going, and was not just leading me through the forest, hoping to stumble upon something that was recognizable.

*Do not worry* said Mist *Crafters tend to be able to find their way around just fine most of the time. You just see everything as looking the same because you are used to living in the End, where there is much less detailed terrain, considering that the only large structures are the obsidian towers.*

"True" I said to her.

Izra gave me a strange look. "Who are you talking to?' he asked.

"Uh, no one" I said hastily "I was just thinking about something.

"Ok" said Izra skeptically "Try not to talk if you can help it. I may be able to deal with mobs, but it would be better if we did not attract their attention at all."

"Right, got it" I whispered.

All around me I could hear the sounds of the night creatures, but now they were bing interspersed by the still faint sounds of the daytime mobs that were now awakening.

"Darn it" hissed Izra "Come on, we have to hurry. If we do not return to the castle extremely quickly now, then we shall surely be caught." He began to run through the forest, his grip on my wrist tightening to ensure that he was not leaving me behind at his increased speed.

We reached a large castle on a flat plane surrounded by tall grass and passive creatures on all sides just as the sun was poking gentle rays of warmth into the landscape.

"We might just make it" said Izra. He led me to a trap door concealed by a raised flower box. The passage that it granted access to was rough and probably served as a secret way out of the castle in case of an emergency. It seemed to travel directly under the main part of the castle, for it took many minutes for us to reach the ladder at the other end that would take us up to the interior of the castle.

"Stay quiet" whispered Izra as we reached the top of the ladder. He pushed up the trap door that covered the secret passage on this end a tiny bit, poking his head out to see if anyone was around to observe our sudden appearance.

"The coast is clear" he whispered, pushing up the trap door completely and creeping out slowly, trying not to make any noise that could alert any who were awake that he was moving about the castle. I climbed out of the passage, closing the trapdoor so that our entryway would not be discovered.

"I still have not figured out a way to explain you being here" whispered Izra, rounding the corner that led further into the castle.

"Figured out how to explain who being here?" asked a voice from the next room. The sound of a lever being flipped sounded, and the dim light necessary to prevent the spawning of mobs was replaced by the bright light of redstone lamps. The light revealed two figures standing in the room next to where we were, and neither of them looked happy."

"Um, hi" said Izra "I guess that I am in trouble"

"Loads" said the two figures simultaneously.

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**A/N:I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Please consider leaving a review or questions for the characters. I hope that you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	6. Cresilia's Plan

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank Azaziel the Demented and Cloud of Swirling Storm for reviewing this week. The next three chapters will be published while I am on vacation, so if I do not include thanks for the reviews, it will be put in later chapters. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer:I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Ender's POV**

"How could you sneak out again?" asked the female figure, who I guessed was Cresilia. She wore a forest green tunic fastened with a goldenrod colored belt. She had hair of the same color, with slightly darker highlights scattered throughout it. "You know that we forbid you to leave at night for a reason."

"And what reason would that be?" asked Izra "You always say that you do things for my good, and yet you rarely tell me the specific reason why."

"We do not want you to get hurt" said Steve "Or for any of the um, less than tasteful members of my family to find you."

"Is that really why we made that rule?" asked Cresilia "Just because you do not want the members of your family who you do not like to find him? I mean, I have never met Shadow, but I have met Herobrine and her is not that bad. Maybe a bit silly at times."

"You do not know him like I do" said Steve "But let us leave that be for now."

"Ok" said Cresilia

"let us get back to what we should be dealing with." said Steve "This naughty teen's punishment."

"Let Izra tell his side of the story first." said Cresilia "I want to know why he went out and who this girl who came home with him is."

"Fine" muttered Steve "We can do it your way."

"Ok then" said Cresilia "Everyone find somewhere to sit, and then we can start."

I sat down on a stair step block that was obviously intended to be a seat, and the others sat on chairs of a similar makeup arranged in a semicircle in the center of the room. The only one who did not seat themselves was Steve, who paced up and down in front of the arrangement of chairs.

"Begin" said Cresilia, giving Izra a look that said she would not accept any back talk from him.

"Well" said Izra "I went to bed, like I usually do , then while I was sleeping, I dreamed that for some reason, I must go out into the forest at night, even though I did not exactly have permission."

"Is that so." said Cresilia "Nice try, but I want to know what really happened."

"Fine" sighed Izra "I was really bored and could not sleep, so I went out, hoping that I could find something to do until I was actually tires."

"Then who is this girl?" asked Steve "Are you sure you did not sneak out to go on a date."

"Really" said Izra "Is that the only reason that a person can be near a girl?"

"I have got to agree with him on this." said Cresilia "It is possible to be around a girl and not be dating them."

"Fine" muttered Steve, flushing in embarrassment at Cresilia's words.

"But the question is still a valid one" said Cresilia. Steve perked up a bit at the mention that his words held some merit.

"So who is your friend?" she asked.

" I helped her with a creeper in the woods. Her name is Ender." I was very grateful that Izra had said he helped me with the creeper, rather that saying he saved me from it, as it made me seem like I had at least some idea of what I was doing.

"Ender?" asked Steve "What type of a name is that?"

"There are types of names now?" I asked in feigned surprise "Why was I not informed of this before? Anyway, how should I know why it is my name. It was given to me, I did not choose it."

"Well I guess it does not really matter" said Steve, ending the discussion, although it was obvious that he was going to attempt to figure out why I was called by a name so unusual by Crafter standards. I only hoped that Izra would be able to help me find a different place to stay before I was kicked out by Steve for being from the End.

*You would be lucky if he just kicked you out.* said Mist.

_Your comments are not needed or appreciated_ I said to her.

*Oh I know* she said *That does not mean that I will stop though*

"So why were you in the forest so late?" Cresilia asked me "It is dangerous. The mobs are not exactly friendly to Crafters."

"Tell me about it" I said "I did not intend to be out during the night, but I got a bit lost and before I knew it, night had fallen. There was not time to do anything but run at that point."

"That could not have been fun." said Steve, a bit of sympathy in his voice.

"Not really" I admitted "I thought that it would never end, but then Izra saved me, and I figured that things were taking a turn for the better."

"Wait, back up a moment" said Cresilia "Izra saved you? From what?"

"Oh a Creeper" I said.

"And how exactly did he do it?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh he talked to it" I said.

Cresilia froze, then turned to Izra and asked quietly "So she knows your secret?"

"Um, maybe?" said Izra, moving his gaze from place to place throughout the room, being sure not to meet either her or Steve's gaze.

Glancing at me, Cresilia said to him, "Come with me, I need to talk to you about something."

**Izra's POV**

I followed Cresilia into the storage room adjacent to where we had been seated. As soon as she had closed the door, she turned to me and asked in a low tone that revealed nothing of how she felt "Tell me the truth now. Did you tell this Ender girl your secret?"

"Yes" I said, a bit of shame entering my voice. I looked down at the ground between my feet, not wanting to meet Cresilia's eyes.

Cresilia sighed "Why would you do that? You just met her and had no reason what so ever to trust her."

"I do not know why I did it" I said "But I know that she will not use it against me."

"And why is that?" asked Cresilia.

I hesitated at this question, my promise to Ender still fresh in my mind. "I can not tell you" I said, hoping fervently that Cresilia would understand. "I made a promise."

"I was hoping that you would say that" said Cresilia.

"You were?" I asked "Why?"

"Because it means that you can keep secrets" she said "Anyway, I am pretty sure I know your friend's secret anyway. She is an Enderlord isn't she."

"How do you know that?" I asked I complete shock, mentally slapping myself for confirming Cresilia's words.

"She does not exactly make the most convincing Crafter" said Cresilia "She also has an aura close to the one given off by Endermen, which leads me to believe that she is from their realm."

"You can read the aura's of Creatures?" I asked "How did you learn to do that?"

"All mobs can do it" said Cresilia "It allows them to know what mob a creature is from the start, as many of the leaders can shapeshift. They do not want to go after a Crafter and later find out that it was an allied leader. You will probably gain the skill as you become more skilled at working with the Creepers."

"Well now that you know about the secret" I said "What should I do? You know how dangerous it is for Ender to stay here. If Steve finds out what she is, it will not be good for any of us."

"Same if Notch finds out that she is here" said Cresilia, making air quotes as she said Notch, as if to show that he was not who he appeared to be.

"So you know about that too" I said, wondering how many others knew that Notch was not really Notch, but rather a Chaos lord named Teloxen who had taken his place.

"Yes I do" said Cresilia "And I keep it to myself, just like you are going to. To keep Ender away from either of them, you are going to take her to the Nether."

"Now how am I going to do that?" I asked.

"Do not play dumb" said Cresilia "I know that you have a portal hidden in a cave outside the city. I see Herobrine all the time, how did you expect me not to know."

"Oh" I said, wondering how she always seemed to have the exact bit of information that would make any attempt of denial or feigned ignorance irrelevant. "How am I going to get her away from here without Steve noticing. I am pretty sure that he thinks something is up with her, so he is unlikely to allow her out of his site."

"Do not worry" said Cresilia "I will distract him somehow. All you have to worry about is getting out of here without being seen."

"Ok" I said. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. "Does this mean that I am not in trouble."

"We will see" sighed Cresilia "But I can not make any promises. I may have to give you at least some punishment in order to convince Steve that we are not planning anything. And anyway, you do definitely deserve some. You may have helped someone by doing it, but sneaking out was still not the right thing to do."

"I know" I muttered.

"Good" said Cresilia "Keep that in mind next time. Now let us get back and see what Ender and Steve have been up to.

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**A/N:I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Please consider leaving a review or questions for the characters. I hope that you have a great day, and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	7. Into the Nether

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank Azaziel the Demented for reviewing this week. I always enjoy receiving reviews and read every one of them. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Ender's POV**

Cresilia and Izra returned from the other room where they had been talking about who knows what. This saved me from continuing the awkward silence that had arisen between me and Steve. He may have been one of the nicer realm lords, but he still gave me the creeps. I figured that it was because he wanted to find out more about me, but it was still weird.

"Did you guys have fun?" asked Cresilia.

"No" said Steve, providing no further information, and Cresilia did not ask for more, no doubt hoping that by avoiding talking about it, she would eliminate any questions about what she had talked to Izra about.

"Ok" said Cresilia "Izra, take Ender upstairs, then go to your room until Steve and I decide what your punishment is going to be."

"Oh great" sighed Izra "My favorite thing. Punishment. Well at least it means no more boring conversations. Come on Ender, follow me." Wondering why I needed to go with Izra if he was the one who was in trouble, I stood up to follow Izra.

Izra led me up the stairs to the top floor of the castle and down a corridor to a room with green walls, a birch wood floor, and a single lamp illuminating it.

"Is this your room?" I asked, surveying the jumbled contents of several chests that had been left open.

"Yup" said Izra, flopping down on the bed.

"Then why am I here if you are being punished?" I asked.

"It is a part of Cresilia's plan" said Izra "she knows that we need to get you away from here before anyone discovers who you are."

"What?" I yelled "You told her my secret! Why? You promised that you would not tell anyone!"

"No, no you do not understand" said Izra "I swear that I did not tell anyone your secret. Cresilia had already figured it out when she took me into the other room to talk to me."

"But how could she have know?" I asked.

*Oh I do not know* said Mist *Maybe she can interpret facts better than that Steve guy seems to be able to.*

"She said she knew because she had some power as the lady of the Creepers that allowed her to look at your aura or something like that."  
"Fine" I said "I suppose I believe you. It is one of those things that just seems like it is too impossible to be a lie."

"I would not always use that as a guide" said Izra :But in this case, you are proven to be correct."

"So if we have to leave, then shouldn't we get some supplies or something?" I said "I mean, no matter where we go, we are going to need supplies."

"Good point" said Izra. He went over to one of the chests and started rummaging through it, picking out certain items and throwing them onto the bed.

After a few minutes of this and several close encounters with flying items, I said to Izra "Shouldn't we hurry? If Steve and Cresilia are just discussing your punishment, it will probably not take them that much longer to finish. We should get out of here while we still have the chance."

"Good call" said Izra, collecting up all of the items that he had tossed onto the bed. Then walking over to the window, he tapped on the thin glass that covered it, as if testing its strength, then smashed the four panes that made up the window, leaving an access to the outside world.

Looking out of the newly smashed window, I asked "So how are we going to get down from here?"

"That is the best part" said Izra "There are vines covering the entire outside of the castle, so we can just use them to climb down."

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" I asked, hoping that caution would make him change his strategy, but doubting that it would work.

"A bit" admitted Izra "But I have done it tons of times and I almost never fall off."

_Gee, that makes me feel so much better_ I thought.

*You think you have it bad* said Mist *At least if you start to fall, you can try to catch yourself. Me on the other hand, if you fall, all I can do is scream.*

"Well then, I guess nothing can be gained by just standing here" I sighed. I was not looking forward to this.

"Nope" said Izra "It is time to leave."

"Where are we going anyway?" I asked.

*This guy really likes to keep people in suspense* said Mist *He has not told you any of the places that you are going with him until right before the time to leave had come.*

"We are going to the Nether" said Izra.

"Why?" I asked "Isn't it super dangerous and full of nasty creatures?"

"Yep" said Izra "It is fabulous. All those mobs to talk to, and none of them have to worry about Notch overhearing them."

"Yeah, they worry about Notch" I said, trying to keep myself from telling Izra that Notch was not who he appeared to be.

"Oh" said Izra "I forgot that you probably know about that thing with Notch. Do not bring it up around here or speak the other's name. We do not want Steve to hear about it."

"Ok, but why exactly is that?" I asked.

"Well" said Izra "To make a long story short, the lord who took Notch's place changed Steve's memories so that he thinks Shadow and Herobrine are evil and tried to destroy him, and he thinks the guy who is pretending to be Notch is the best person ever. Now come on, I think I hear them coming!"

Izra handed me a few items, then grabbed the edge of the window and swung himself over, taking hold of the vines growing just below to support himself.

"Now you do it" said Izra, motioning for me to do the same. I walked over to the window and looked over the edge to see where the best place to take hold was. I immediately regretted doing so, for it revealed the true height that we were at.

"I do not know if I can do this" I whispered.

*Oh for stars* said Mist *Just do it. The faster you get it over with, the lower the chance that you will be found*

"Come on" said Izra "If you fall, I will catch you."

Unsure if he was being serious, I slowly climbed over the edge of the window and took hold of the vines. A sudden sound of footsteps on the stairs alerted me to the fact that someone, most likely Steve or Cresilia, was rapidly coming towards our location. No longer caring that it was dangerous, I started to descend the vines as fast as I could without falling off.

As soon as I reached where Izra was, I said to him "They are coming, we have to move faster."

"Got it." said Izra. We both started to descend even faster, at a speed where it was more like a controlled fall than climbing.

As soon as we reached the bottom, Izra took the lead, sprinting off in the opposite direction of the forest where we had first met.

**Cresilia's POV**

We had finished discussing the punishment for Izra and were slowly climbing the many stairs that stood between us. A sudden loud noise of shattering glass alerted Steve that something was going on, and he began running upwards to see what it was. Cursing Izra for not getting out faster, I ran after him, desperately hoping that the sound of frantic running would encourage them to hurry up.

After several minutes, the top of the stairs came into view. Steve sprinted the last few blocks and raced into Izra's room. I followed more slowly, and was not at all surprised when all that was revealed was an empty room with the window smashed out.

Steve on the other hand, was staring at the room in shock. "How could he leave? Where would he go?" he asked. "Wait!" he said, turning to me "Where is that girl. Ender. The one who came with Izra"

"I do not know" I said, doing my best to look innocent, and it appeared to work "Maybe they both left or something"

"Then we have to follow them" said Steve resolutely. He jumped from the window, and for a moment, I wondered what he was doing. Then I saw the vines and understood. Climbing onto the vines, I followed more slowly.

When I reached the ground, I found Steve examining the area around the bottom of the structure.

"I think they went this was" said Steve, pointing in a direction where several broken leaf blocks opened a pathway that led away from the castle.

We followed the trail that they had left of broken leaf blocks, dropped items, and several fallen saplings. The whole time I was mentally screeching at Izra for leaving such an obvious trail. We finally emerged in a small clearing to see a cave system with several openings and a group of Crafters. It was immediately clear that we had been following their trail rather than Izra and Ender's. However, I could sense the two of them quite close to our location. It seemed that by complete luck, this other trail had led us to the same system of caves where Izra's Nether portal was hidden. Steve looked as though he had heard a strange noise, and whispered in shock "No, it can not be." He raced off down one of the cave's many passages, leaving me to rush after him, much to the amusement of the Crafters who we had accidentally followed.

**Ender's POV**

We reached the cave where the portal was located after quite a while of traveling in complete silence, trying our best to leave no trace of our passing. At last, we stood before the portal that would lead us to the distant world of the Nether.

I heard a sound of running feet behind us and asked "Izra, who is coming?"

He listened for a moment before saying "Darn it, it is Steve. How did he find us?"

"I don't know" I said "What happens if he catches us?"

"Nothing good" said Izra "Come on, get through the portal. We should be safe there. Steve would not dare to go through, for he fears what Herobrine will do to him." We both stepped into the portal and waited for it to transport us. Through the blurry barrier of the portal mist, I could see Steve and Cresilia running towards the portal.

**Steve's POV**

The sound I heard was not one that I had heard for a long time. I had hoped never to hear it again, for that sound would mean my brother would have a gateway into this realm. The sound of an active Nether portal came from further down one of the cave passages, and I ran down the tunnel that I guessed would bring me closer to it. I heard Cresilia's footsteps behind me as I raced towards the sound of the portal.

I skidded to a stop as the obsidian frame of the portal came into view. What really shocked me was what I saw standing in the portal. I saw Izra and his friend Ender using the portal to send themselves to the Nether.

"I have been betrayed once more" I whispered, sinking to my knees.

"Shh" said Cresilia, leaning over to comfort me "I am sure there is an explanation"

"No" I said quietly "Another person has deserted me. I will soon be alone, surrounded by my enemies with no escape."

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**A/N: I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Please consider leaving a review and questions for the characters to answer. I also would love to receive any prompts for one-shots that you would like to see written. I hope that you have a great day, and I shall see you all next week. Bye! :D**


	8. Nether Fortress Raid

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank ****DementedDarkness, Amelia(Guest), guy(Guest) and ****AMinecraftMaster for reviewing this week. In response to the review by guy(Guest), i want to say that if anyone wants to do YouTube related things involving this story, i would appreciate it if they asked first, but i am fine with it as long as i am given credit and you somehow sent me your YouTube channel name, either in a review or PM so i can see what you made:) IN other news, i have made cover art for this story, and would love to get your guys feedback on it. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Ender's POV**

When the rippling of the portal had ceased, I blinked the spots from my eyes and felt the waves of heat begin to wash over me. They were hotter than I had ever felt before. The Overworld had been warm compared to the usually cool temperatures of the End, but that was nothing compared to the heat that was present here. Izra seemed not to be affected by the heat, and I asked him "Have you been here before? You seem to be pretty comfortable in this heat."

"I have been here before" said Izra "I have gotten better at dealing with the heat. I still can not stay out here for too long without overheating, but I am getting better at it."

"What do you mean out here?" I asked. I really did not know all that much about the Nether. I had mainly focused on learning about the Overworld, for that was the world I had been going to visit.

"There are structures called called Nether fortresses found in the Nether" said Izra "They are quite a bit cooler inside, as the netherbrick they are made of absorbs the heat and distributes it."

"What do they look like?" I asked, scanning the visible area for any signs of a structure. All that I could see was a large lake of lava with a large expanse of netherrack jutting out into the space above it. Clusters of glowstone hung down from the ceiling. It unnerved me a bit that I felt like I was outside, and yet there was still a roof over me. All my life, I had been surrounded by the wide open area of the End. Even in the Overworld, there was the wide open sky above me, but here there was no such thing.

I spotted a darker area of material behind a large deposit of glowstone. "Is that something?" I asked, pointing to where I had seen the variation.

Izra squinted into the distance where I was pointing before saying "Yes, it appears that it is one. Lets get over there quickly, before we encounter any mobs that are immediately hostile to us."  
"I thought that mobs did not attack you." I said, a note of confusion present in my voice.

"I can" said Izra "But none of the mobs know that I am here, and so they would just assume I am a regular Crafter and attack."

Izra began walking towards the still distant area where the fortress was located, leaving a trail of torches so that we would be able to find our way back to the portal. He had said that leaving a trail could be a bit of a risk, as it meant that anyone who was sent after is would be able to find us more easily, but we had both figured that the fact the trail would allow us to find our way back to the only portal we knew of outweighed any risk presented by the torch trail.

We walked for many hundreds of blocks before the fortress became clearly defined and close enough to reach easily. It had not looked that far from our original location, but we had been separated from it by a vast sea of lava, and in order to reach it we had needed to take a wide detour that added hours to our trip.

When at last we staggered into the fortress, we were exhausted and so overheated that we could barely stand. Izra blocked off the opening that we had walked through, and it was not long before the netherbrick had absorbed much of the heat that we had brought in with us.

"Ah, that's better" said Izra, leaning against one of the walls "For a while there, I was not sure we were going to make it."

"Same" I gasped, pulling out one of the bottles of water that we had brought and drinking it quickly, savoring the cool taste as it washed down my throat.

"While we are here, do you want to explore?" asked Izra, his eyes practically glowing in excitement at the prospect of it.

"Sure, why not." I sighed, getting up from where I had sat on the floor. I was tired and really did not want to explore right then, but I knew that if I did not cooperate with Izra, then her would keep bugging me about it until I agreed.

"Great!" said Izra "Let's go this way" He said, pointing down a corridor that had a set of descending steps at its end. I followed his lead, not really paying attention to where he was leading us. I allowed my gaze to roam over the side passages that we passed. I caught many glimpses of zombie pigmen, which we had seen many of on our trip to this fortress.

Suddenly, I glimpsed a gray skeletal creature, and did my best not to gasp in surprise. Izra noticed my reaction and abandoned the chest he was looking through to ask "What is it?"

"There is something over there" I said, pointing a trembling finger towards the passage where I had seen the creature. Izra pulled out his bow, and with a well practiced hand, nocked an arrow on the string. He then walked along the edge of the corridor until he was directly adjacent to the corner that the creature was located around. He peered around the corner, making sure that his bow rounded it in front of him, as to be made ready to shoot if whatever the creature proved to be hostile.

As soon as he glimpsed whatever was over there, he yelped and came back around the corner hurriedly, pushing himself up against the wall as if to hide. The sound of bones clanking sounded from the other corridor, and the noise seemed to be growing louder.

"It is coming!" said Izra, his eyes wide in shock and fright. "Whatever happens, do not let it hit you."

"What is it?" I asked, slowly backing away from where the creature was located.

"A wither skeleton" said Izra "They will wither you if they hit you. This one also has armor, so it is particularly dangerous because it will take much more damage than a normal one would.

"We should probably get out of here then" I said quietly, hoping that in doing so, I would not draw the attention of the wither skeleton.

"Good plan" said Izra. As he spoke, the skeleton reached the end of the other passage and rounded the corner. It was an enormous gray skeleton which held a stone sword that glowed with the aura of enchantment. It also wore iron leggings and a helmet which also bore the purple aura.

Without even needing to say it, we both knew what the other was thinking. Izra and I both ran up the stair set behind us, wanting to get anywhere that did not contain the menacing figure of the wither skeleton.

The stairs led up to the top of the fortress, where a fenced off area led over to another platform with a spawner on it. What really concerned me though, was what stood at the end of the platform we stood on, which had not been visible from below. Six more wither skeletons stood there, none of them with items like the first, but all equally imposing.

They were on us before I realized what was happening. Their touch was like fire, and even after it was removed, every few seconds a fresh wave of pain would occur as whatever magic they had used worked its way further into my body. At last, the pain became too much for me and I surrendered to the warm embrace of unconsciousness.

I drifted in and out of unconsciousness, my dreams mixing with the fragments of the real world to create a confusing landscape. One figure I saw stayed in my mind the longest, and so did the scene in which it had appeared. The spawner that had been located where we were ambushed spawned fiery creatures who flew around without wings. They seemed to be surveying where we lay, and when they had completed this, two of them flew off, and the rest continued to hover near the spawner.

Not long after the first two had left, although it could have been many hours, my sense of time was greatly distorted by the transits into and out of unconsciousness, they returned, but they brought another with them. This creature looked similar to a teenage Crafter about Izra's age, but he had a ring of fire surrounding him at about waist height, similar to the ones that the flame creatures had circling them. This seemed to be what enabled both of the groups to fly. The person also had a feathered tail, the coloration of which reminded me of the different shades present in lava. He wore a red tunic and brown leggings, and had spiky reddish-brown hair held back with a simple leather band. This figure seemed so lifelike that I doubted my dreams could have created such a thing.

The figure came over to me and dripped a few drops of a pink liquid into my mouth. It tasted strange, but not unpleasant. A bit like the melons that Shadow had allowed me to have once as a treat. It eased the pain enough that I was able to break the cycle of waking and unconsciousness and finally drift off into a quiet, dreamless sleep.

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**A/N:I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter of Ender's Journey. Now, for the character Q/A.**

**From ****DementedDarkness to Cresilia: ****why not just tell Steve the truth, ****i mean being that your his wife it would makes sense for him to listen to ****you.**

**Cresilia: The reason that i have not told Steve the truth about what happened to him and that Notch is not who he appears to be is that since he sees Herobrine as an enemy, and Creepers are loyal to him, Steve would think that i was trying to trick him into attacking an ally (Notch). He would then believe that i had betrayed him as he believes so many others have. I do not want to be the cause if more heartbreak for him, and so i keep silent, even though i know i should not.**

**From Amelia(Guest) to Cresilia: ****I would like to know if you can turn ****into any other mob than a creeper. And can you go into other realms because ****you are a 'mob'?**

**Cresilia: I can turn into a Creeper and a Crafter, but that it pretty much it, unless i have a form i do not know of. I can turn into a charged Creeper if i am hit by lighting though. I can go to other realms, although it is rather hard to construct or activate a portal as a Creeper.**

**Those are the questions from this week, and i would love it if some were left for next time. Reviews are always appreciated. I hope that you have a great day, and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	9. Unexpected Events

**A/N:Hi, Ender here. I would like to thank Amelia(Guest) for reviewing this week. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft.**

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**Ender's POV**

When I awoke, I was not sure where I was. The last thing that I remembered was seeing a strange figure after Izra and I had been attacked by wither skeletons. I opened my eyes slowly, blinking them rapidly to adjust to the sudden increase in brightness. As my eyes gradually adjusted, I could see that I was in what looked like a section of Nether fortress, except that the room was much larger than any I had seen in such structures.

I stretched a bit, and upon realizing that I was laying upon something soft, wondered who I had been able to sleep in a bed without exploding. I had discovered that normal Crafter beds had special magic in them that allowed the user to change the time to the next dawn. In most areas though, it only worked it all of the Crafters in a certain zone were sleeping. In realms that did not have the same day to night cycles though, the magic overloaded and caused the bed to explode.

I rolled over onto my side, and saw hat I was lying not on a bed, but rather several blocks of wool arranged in a two by two square to ensure that I would not fall off. A similar construct was visible a few blocks from me, and I could see Izra lying on it, whether asleep or unconscious I did not know.

A sound of quick footsteps approaching where I lay, giving me warning that some creature was approaching me. I squeezed my eyes closed and breathed slowly, hoping that whoever or whatever it was would think I was still asleep and leave me alone.

The footsteps came to a stop a few paces from me, and I heard the clink of bottles near by. Curious to see who was there and what they were doing, I opened my eyes a crack and peered at the figure. It was the one that I distinctly remembered from before, except this time he walked on the ground rather than hovering above it. He was organizing bottles of different colored liquids in a chest. When all the ones he was carrying had been placed into the chest, he turned and glanced at where Izra and I were located, as if to check that we were still there.

Hurriedly, I snapped my eyes closed, but something about my body language must have alerted the figure that I was awake, for he said "So you are awake at last. That is very good. We were not sure that you would wake up. Those wither skeletons really did a number on you guys."

Realizing that it was futile to pretend to be asleep, I opened my eyes and struggled to raise myself into a sitting position. "Why I am I so tired?" I slurred.

"I may have given you a bit too much healing potion" he admitted "It should wear off soon, but until then, just stay where you are."

"Like I have any choice." I said.

"Anyway" said the figure "My name is Flare. What is your's?"

"Ender" I said "And what did you give me?"

"Healing potion" said Flare "It healed the damage that the wither effect caused. I gave you a bit too much though, and a side effect of it is that it relaxes muscles, so that is why you are finding it so difficult to move."

Now that one of the mysteries that had been bothering me had been solved, I decided to move on to more pressing matters. "Where are we anyway?"

Flare hesitated for a moment, then said "I am not sure I should tell you. I do not know if I can trust you."

*I like this guy.* said Mist *He actually knows that you should not tell random people secret information, unlike someone else I could mention.*

_Why are you so annoying?_ I asked Mist

*I do not know* she said *I guess it is just my special talent.*

When I turned my attention back to flare, he was looking at me with an amused expression "You two done?" he asked "I would not want to interrupt what I am sure was a riveting conversation."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, trying to sound like I had no clue what he was speaking of. Inwardly though, I was in turmoil. How had he been able to detect what Mist ans I had been saying.

"Do not bother denying it" said Flare "I do not know what you and your um... I am guessing spirit friend were talking about, but I do know that you were most certainly talking."

Seeing that it was futile to continue my charade, I asked "How can you possibly know that. No one can hear us unless we wish them to."

"And I could not hear you." said Flare "Or at least not what you said. But I could sense that you were communicating. I have to be able to. That is how Blazemen communicate, and as their lord, I have to be able to know when they are speaking to me."

"Wait" I said "You are a lord too?"

"Yup" he said "Flare, lord of Blazemen at your service."

Izra began to stir, and it was not long before he too was awake. "Ugh" he sighed "Did anyone see which way the guy who did this went? Because when I find him, he is going down!"

"Hi Izra." said Flare "Your humor is appreciated, but unnecessary. You were attacked by wither skeletons, remember?"

"Oh yeah" said Izra "That does explain a lot. Wait, where is Ender? Cresilia is going to kill me if I lost her."

"Not as much as Shadow would if he ever found out" said Flare, struggling to conceal his amusement. "It looks like we will never find out though, because she is right here."

"Thank the stars" said Izra in relief "I really did not want to die yet. So many rules left to break."

"Really?" said Flare in annoyance "Is that the only goal that you have? To break lots of rules?"

"No" said Izra "Of course not. I also really want to..." Izra trailed off as he tried to think of some other life goal that would impress Flare. After a moment, he shrugged and said "I got nothing."

"I rest my case" said Flare, a smug expression on his face.

Thinking about what they had said earlier in their conversation, I realized that they had known something that the could not possibly know. "How did you know that Shadow would be mad if I was missing?"

Flare shot Izra a glance that seemed to say "See, I was right."

*You are really bad at this whole keeping secrets thing aren't you.* said Mist in a bored tone.

"I know that Shadow would care what happened to you because I can sense that you too carry the powers of a lord, and the only reason there would be another lord would be if Shadow had taken an apprentice. Steve and Herobrine both already have one, and Teloxen would never train someone who could someday take his place."

"You know that was probably a good call on his part." said Izra, laying backwards off his bed so that his head hung over the edge and he could look at us, although he would see us as being upside down. "Anyone who was trained by that guy would be sure to learn some skills in backstabbing, and lets be honest here, who ever it was would love nothing more than to use those skills to take his place."

"True" said Flare, then turned to me and said "We have already established that you are a lord, so may I ask what you are a lord of? I am sure that Izra already knows, but I would prefer not not to spend a long time getting the information out of him."

"You may ask" I said "But I shall not tell you the information unless you first tell me where we are."

*Good, good* said Mist in approval *You are learning. Do not give any information without receiving some in return*

"Very well" said Flare, dipping his head "We are in the Nether, at Herobrine's fortress."

"Now tell him what you promised" said Izra "If you do not, he will go off and sulk for hours."

"I do not sulk" said Flare. When Izra stared at him, as if daring him to prove it, he relented, saying "Well, maybe just a little."

"Good to know" I said "Anyway, I am a lord of Endermen."

"Cool" said Flare. A loud noise from outside caused Izra to scream and hide underneath his blanket, which was a sheet of what looked like stitched together carpet squares.

"What was that?" I asked.

"A ghast" said Flare grinning "They sound a lot like something that Izra is terrified of"

"Which is?" I asked.

"Cats" said Flare "For some reason, they scare him like crazy"

"I do not know why I am afraid of them" said Izra "I just am"

"It is probably just because Creepers are naturally afraid of Cats and Ocelots, and as their lord, you probably share the same fear." I said.

Izra and Flare looked at each other before Flare said "Why didn't we think of that before?"

"It makes so much sense." said Izra "But it still does not make them any less scary." He flinched as another sound from the ghast sounded through the room.

"Well we better finish up here soon, as Herobrine wants to talk to us about something."

*I remember that Herobrine has a copy of the same prophecy you do. I read about it somewhere when you were sleeping. You should ask these guys if they know anything about it.*

_Ok, got it_ I said to her. To the others, I said "So I found this prophecy in a secret place in Shadow's library, and I was wondering if you guys had heard anything about it."

"Really?" asked Flare, excitement apparent in his voice "I wonder if it is the same one that Herobrine had a copy of. He said that Steve gave it to him a long time ago, and that Steve got it from Shadow. He was going to show me and Izra one time, but Jump ate it. I really hate that magma cube."

"It is easy to do that" agreed Izra "It does so many things to deserve it."

"Hey Ender" said Flare "You should show Herobrine the prophecy. Maybe he knows something about it that he has not bothered to tell us."

"Sure" I said "One thing though. If Izra is Steve's apprentice, then why does he spend so much time in the Nether?"

"Mostly because Steve is the most boring person ever" said Izra, laying backwards on the bed once more."

"Be serious Izra" said Flare, shooting him an annoyed glance "Anyway, since Teloxen messed with Steve's memories, he listens to Teloxen above anyone else, and since Teloxen does not want anyone trained in well, pretty much anything, as that could result in someone rising against him, Izra just sits around most of the time."

"And that leaves plenty of time for me to do things that are, um... frowned upon in many places. Like building a portal to this realm for example. There are rules against it, but I still did it."

"Well that clears it up I guess" I said "Which way is it to where Herobrine is? I am curious to find out more about the prophecy. I actually had to steal it from Shadow in order to read it, so it must be pretty important."

"Right this way" said Flare "If you follow me, I shall lead you to where Herobrine dwells."

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**A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please consider leaving a review, or questions for the characters. If I receive some, they shall be answered by the characters in a later chapter. I hope that you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	10. The Lords of the Nether

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank Kitwarrior24 and DementedDarkness for reviewing this week. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Ender's POV**

I followed Flare down one of the corridors that traveled throughout the Nether fortress, wondering how much longer it would be before we reached wherever we were going. We had already been traveling through tunnels for over an hour, and yet Flare kept going, showing no sign of stopping any time soon. Izra followed behind the both of us, seeming more at home here than he had when we were traveling through the Overworld.

When I mentioned this to him, he said that it was due to the fact that as time passed, he spent more time in the Nether than the Overworld, as here he could speak freely without fear of being persecuted or revealing a secret. I wondered how such secrecy could ever be maintained, for what I had learned of Crafters and my few encounters with them as we had traveled told me that they were prone to revealing truths that they had sworn would never be spoken.

*Kinda like someone else I know* said Mist, interrupting my thoughts.

_ Of course you have to bring that up_. I said _You tell one person something, and you never hear the end of it._

At long last, Flare came to a stop outside a large archway. I peered around the edge of it, but saw nothing more than a short corridor with a pattern of glowstone repeating throughout it, leading to an area blocked off from where we were by netherbrick fences and a pair of iron doors. A wither skeleton stood guard outside, and a brief flash of terror went through me as I wondered if the same thing that had previously happened to me was about to take place once more.

I pushed the thought away, reminding myself that I was with someone who knew how to deal with them this time. And anyway, I doubted that anywhere in Herobrine's fortress would be guarded by a creature that could not be trusted to leave any guests alone. For I assumed that we were guests in this place, seeing that Flare had brought us here and we were not being held as prisoners.

"Stay here guys" said Flare, gesturing for us to do so "I am going to make sure the guard knows that you two are with me. He may have heard something about what happened to you two earlier from another wither skeleton, and I do not want him to attack you."

As he walked over to the guard, I asked Izra "Is it always like this when you come here?"

"No" said Izra, a flash of worry crossing his face "I have never seen so many wither skeletons around. Sure there were always a few, but this feels wrong. They are gathering, and I doubt that means anything good."Flare came back from talking to the guards just as Izra was saying this.

"You are right about that" said Flare "Mainly because I have a hunch that whatever is going on has to do with the same prophecy that you carry."

"So what did the guard say?" asked Izra "Are we going away until he gives the say so to enter?"

"No, we are good" said Flare "We can go in as soon as you guys are ready."  
"Do you know who else is in there?" asked Izra "Because I know you are not on the best terms with some of the lords of this realm."

"No idea" said Flare "I guess we will just have to hope." He walked back over towards where the door was, which had been opened at some point during our conversation. We followed him, wondering what we would see on the other side of the doorway.

What I saw once I passed through the doorway did not impress me as much as I thought that it would. I t was an impressive room considering it's size, but much of it was filled with chests that spilled their contents over their edges until they almost reached the floor. A large, throne-like structure made out of netherbrick occupied the space a few blocks back from the center of the room, and three figures could be seen around it. Two of them were leaning on the throne itself, one to either side, while the third was draped over the seat, so that the figure's legs hung over one armrest, and it's arms over the other. I also spotted a magma cube hopping around near one of the clusters of chests. I had not noticed it before, as it was one of the smallest of its kind.

"Oh, yay" said flare, his lack of enthusiasm apparent as he spoke "Almost all of the other lords are here."

"Why is that a problem?" I asked.

"He does not get along with some of them very well." said Izra.

Wondering why this was, I returned to my observation of the figures in the room. The figure on top of the throne looked a lot like Steve had, except his clothing was more ragged around the edges, and they also clearly showed signs of fire damage in several places. His hair also stuck up as if it had been blown every which way by a very strong wind. I wondered if this figure was Herobrine. His appearance seemed to hint at this conclusion, although I had thought that he would be a bit more intimidating based on the fact that he had been the first realm lord to be banished from the Overworld, and still could strike fear into the hearts of all of Crafter kind.

The figure to the left of the throne was a tall male figure, although it was hard to tell much else about him due to the fact that he wore a set of long black robes with a hood, and a black mask covered much of his face. A few wisps of dirty blond hair stuck out from underneath the hood, and as I watched, the figure reached up and flicked one of them out of his eyes as he gazed into a black orb that he held aloft with one hand.

The figure on the other side of the throne was a woman of medium height with bright pink hair that extended a hand span beyond her shoulders. She wore a set of leather armor minus the helmet, and carried a gold sword loosely in one hand, which was being tapped against her thigh every so often in an irregular pattern.

My observation was interrupted when Flare said "Come on both of you, no point in standing around all day."

"In other words" said Izra "You just want to get this over with."

"Is it too much ton ask that one meeting go well?" sighed Flare.

We walked towards the center of the room, but before we got there, then small magma cube abandoned the pile of chests that it had been hopping around and bounced over to us in an attempt to block our path.

"Shoo!" Flare said to it, gesturing for it to move. It did not get out of the way, but rather jumped up and down more rapidly. During one of its bounces, a flash of light surrounded it, and when the light had cleared, a young boy stood where the magma cube had been.

"Who are you telling to shoo?" he asked angrily "And why are you bringing more people here. You know they are not wanted."

"Go away Jump" said Flare, doing his best to hold in the anger I could see rising within him "I am busy right now, an I really do not want to talk to you, either now or at a later time."

"Well that sure is too bad" said Jump "Because you are going to have to get through me before you do anything else."  
"Get your little tutu covered butt out of our way" hissed Flare, his eyes showing sparks of anger, his tail thrashed from side to side, and the ring of fire that connected the blazerods around his waist blazed higher and shone with a brighter light. I took a closer look at Jump's outfit and noticed that it did indeed look like a leotard, with the red and orange spring pattern of a magma cube on it.

Jump blushed with rage and said indignantly "It is not a tutu, it is a one piece jumpsuit. Why do you always have to be so mean anyway?"

"Because you are a massive pain" said Flare.

Jump was about to respond to what had been said, when the female figure said "Chill Jump. Flare is right, you are being a pain. Go and find something constructive to do if you are just going to stand around arguing."

"You can organize my chest s." said the figure I guessed was Herobrine "That would be really useful, especially since I am probably never going to get around to to doing it myself."

"Fine" grumbled Jump.

We continued towards the figures at the end of the room. "Why do we always walk so slowly?" grumbled Izra.

Ignoring him, I asked Flare "So that was Jump. Is he the one who destroyed the other copy of the prophecy?"

"Unfortunately yes" said Izra, answering when Flare did not respond after a few seconds "It was an accident when he was really little, and now as a result of that he is really hostile and overprotective of things. He really is to young to have the responsibility he does, but his mum was the last lord of magma cubes, and she did not train a successor, so she passed her powers to him when she died."

"That does not mean he has to be a royal pain" muttered Flare sullenly.

"Let it go" said Izra, placing his hand on Flare's shoulder "There is no point in getting worked up when we have more important things to do right now."

"I guess that you are right." sighed Flare "He just always knows exactly how to get to me."

We reached the figures at last and stood there before them. The center figure stretched, then said "Flare, why have you brought this child to our realm."

"Introductions first" said flare "Then explanations"

"Fine" he said "I am Herobrine, as you may have guessed."

The figure to his left lowered the hand holding the dark orb a bit, and then spoke in a soft voice "I am Demented, lord of wither skeletons."  
The woman then said "I am Bekka, lord of Zombie pigmen"

Izra did his best to hold back a snort of amusement, unsuccessfully as it turned out, for Bekka glared at him and asked "Is there something funny about that? Just because they are called pigmen does not mean that they can not have a woman as their leader."

"Of course" said Izra hastily, nodding to emphasize the point.

"This is Ender" said Flare.

"You seem familiar" said Herobrine "But I can not seem to think from what."

"I am from the End" I said "I am a lord of Endermen."

"Oh" said Herobrine, staring up at the roof of the room, lost in thought "That explains it. You share the same aura as my brother Shadow. But that does not tell me why you have come."

"We have come regarding the prophecy that was given to you long ago."

"Um, has Flare told you what happened to my copy of that prophecy?" asked Herobrine, a note of worry in his voice.

"Yes" I said "But, fortunately, I have obtained my own copy."

"Well then" said Herobrine "I suppose that is sorted out then. We can begin whenever you like."

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**A/N:I would like to thank DementedDarkness for the use of their OC, Demented. If anyone else would like to submit one, I will consider using it in a future chapter. They can be ordinary Crafters or mobs, or they can be a lord of something. The list below shows the basic info that I ****would like to be included for a character.**

**Name:**

**Species:**

**What realm they live in:(Make it reasonable, no ghasts from the end, etc.) **

**Lord of: (optional, can be a lord of a type of block instead of a mob)**

**Personality:**

**Physical Description:**

**Backstory: **

**And now it is time for questions for the characters!**

**From DementedDarkness to Flare: What exactly are the Blazemen? Are they related to Blazes?**

**Flare: The Blazemen and Blazes are the same thing. Different Crafters and other groups call them by different names. I hope that clears up any confusion.**

**From Kitwarrior24 to Me: Where is Herobrine?**

**Herobrine: I am right here.**

**Leave any questions that you would like to see answered in a future chapter in a review. OC submissions can be left there, or sent in a PM. Reviews about anything else in the chapter that you would like to comment on are appreciated, and I read every one that I get. I hope that you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	11. Unfortunate Truths

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank DementedDarkness, Blueseas17, Spazington36, and Shade the Fox for reviewing or sending me an OC by PM. On with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft.**

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**Ender's POV**

I thought about Herobrine's words for a moment, before glancing at the others who were in his company and asking "Is there a more private place where we may speak? The matters that we must discuss should not be heard by those who would speak to Teloxen's allies and betray our secrets."

"The lords in my company can be trusted to keep what is said to themselves" said Herobrine "Though we must hope that Teloxen has not chosen today to listen to my goings on."

"What do you mean?" I asked "Surely he can not listen into your realm."

"He can" said Herobrine "And unfortunately, I can only blame myself for this. Shadow warned me that I should have included wards when I created my realm, but by then it was too late. The chaos had made itself known in my realm, and any wards that were put in place would simply be broken down by the chaos that remained within their boarders."

"But if he can hear what is spoken here" I said "Then what keeps him from discovering the prophecy?"

"Nothing" said Herobrine "But that does not really matter. Teloxen got his hands on a copy of the prophecy not long after it was first made."

"What?" I gasped "How?"

"Steve" said Herobrine "After he gave me the copy of the prophecy that I had, he still had one for himself. But what Shadow did not count on was that Teloxen was waiting for Steve when he returned from the Nether. When he discovered that Steve knew who he really was, he changed Steve's memories. When he did this, he found the memories of the prophecy and the copy itself. I had no way of telling Shadow about this, so he has spent all this time thinking that the secret we swore to protect was safely guarded."

"Teloxen is worse than you think Ender" said Bekka "He did a terrible thing in order to try to prevent the prophecy from occurring."

"What?" I asked, wondering what terrible deed the lord of chaos had done.

To my surprise, it was Izra who answered "You know how the prophecy speaks of a lord of stars right?"

"Yes" I said hesitantly, wondering where this was going.

"Well Teloxen accused all the lords of stars of plotting with Herobrine against him, and had them all put to death. He figures that if there were no lords of stars, then his reign was safe."

"What!?" I gasped, my shock and horror sending conflicting waves of emotion throughout my body.

"Yeah" said Izra "It was a horrible time. Battalions of Valkyrie were sent throughout the Overworld to capture all the star lords who tried to escape."

"But if there are not lords of stars left" I said "Then how can the prophecy ever be fulfilled? And if we can not do that, then Teloxen has won and we are doomed."

"We just have to hope" said Bekka "Maybe one survived somewhere, or there is another way to defeat Teloxen. You just have to get lucky."

"You do not know me very well do you?" said Herobrine "No one in my family ever seems to have any good luck, and it seems to effect those who are around us as well."

"Well then, it seems it is the perfect time for some of that lost luck to find you" said Bekka "If you help these guys out, maybe things would get better. They really could not get worse anyway."

A sound from outside the Nether fortress broke into our conversation. "What was that?" asked Izra, standing perfectly still and straining to hear any further sounds.

"I do not know" said Herobrine "But it can not be good." Turning to Bekka, he said "You just had to say that things could not get any worse didn't you. That is always when fate seems to decide that the next huge and horrible thing needs to become a part of your life."

"Whoops, my bad" said Bekka, laughing a little in embarrassment.

"I do not like this" said Demented "There are not many creatures in this realm or any other that could make a noise loud enough to be heard in here, and few of them are creatures who could be considered allies."

A crashing noise could be heard, louder than the last. The sound was quickly followed by the loud sound of breaking blocks. "What was that?" I asked.

"I have no idea" said Flare "But whatever it is, it seems like it is getting closer."

Herobrine and Demented seemed to be having a conversation that they wished to prevent the rest of us from hearing, but I could hear snatches of it whenever the block breaking sound paused for a moment. "Do you think it could be him?" whispered Herobrine.

"Possibly" said Demented "Few other things in any realm could cause this type of destruction" This last portion of their conversation occurred after the block breaking had come to a stop. They looked at us and realized that we had overheard what they were talking about. Our confused but intrigued expressions made it obvious that they were not going to be able to just say that it was nothing important and moved on.

"So what type of creature do you think it is Demented?" asked Bekka, getting straight to the point.

"Um. Well it is kind of hard to explain" he said hesitantly, glancing at Herobrine as if to encourage him to answer.

He was spared from having to figure out what to say when Jump ran into the room, panting and gasping as if he had been running from something. I had not seen him leave the room before, but then again, I had been paying more attention to what was being said than what was taking place in the room we stood in.

"What is wrong?" asked Bekka, walking over to where Jump had collapsed from exhaustion and was lying on the netherbrick floor. She crouched down, and after taking his hand, she helped him rise to his feet.

Jump managed to stay on his feet although it was clear it took all his strength to do so. "I went out to see what was causing the noises" he said. His voice as shaky as the rest of him. "And I saw this... thing. I do not even know how to describe it. It was this enormous, gray skeletal creature, but it was... different from a normal skeleton." Jump collapsed once more, and Bekka barely caught him before his head hit the floor. He appeared to be unconscious this time, and as Bekka struggled to get him into a better position to be carried, a burned patch about the size of my hand was revealed on his right side. The section of his jumpsuit had been burned away, revealing a severe burn. However, where most burns were an angry red color, this one was dark gray at the center, and the color was a progressively lighter shade of gray in areas further from the center.

"Flare, get some healing potions" said Demented, eyes rooted to the burned area "And hurry. If we do not do this fast, I do not know if jump will survive."

"Got it" said Flare, his confusion evident, but refraining from asking any questions.

"What happened" I asked.

Demented looked at me and said "He has been contaminated by the wither poison like you and your friend were, but this appears to be a much stronger version, or at least one that lasts longer. The fact that the effect has not gone away is not a good sign at all."

"But what could have caused such a thing?" I asked, hoping that he would reveal what I could tell he was hiding. It may not have been clear to the others, but after years of living with Shadow, who was an expert at hiding the fact that he was holding back information, it was not at all that difficult to tell when information was being withheld.

"I shall tell you later" said Demented, giving Herobrine an unhappy look.

In return, Herobrine gave him a sympathetic look and said "We will both tell you. Perhaps it is time for the truth to be told."

Flare returned, out of breath and carrying a few healing potions in his arms, along with some light purple ones that I did not recognize. "Whatever that thing is, it sure is fast" said Flare "I had to run at top speed to get across the walkway between here and the nearest potion workshop, and the whole time I could hear it blowing blocks out of the ground behind me."

"Hand the potions here" said Demented. Flare passed him the potions, most of which he put into various pockets of this robes. He kept out one of each type, and carefully, he removed the top of the healing potion, which looked different than the other potions I had seen.

Sensing my interest, mist said *It is a splash potion. They work only when applied to the outside of the body, where they are absorbed through the skin.*

Demented dumped the potion onto Jump, making sure that the majority of it landed on the ever growing gray patch where he had been wounded. When Jump began to stir, he opened the other potion and put it to Jump's lips "Drink" he said "It will make you feel better" Jump weakly obeyed, and soon the potion bottle was empty.

"Is it working?" asked Bekka, her face a mask of concern as she looked down at Jump's limp form.

"No" said Demented, checking the progress of the gray stain on Jump's side "It is moving too fast. All the potions did was give him a bit more time."  
"What else can we do?" asked Izra.

"Not much" said Demented "Not unless you know where we can find a bucket of milk in the Nether."

"I have a bucket of milk" said Izra, pulling out a small covered bucket "I was making cake before I came here, and I had a bit extra left over."

"Hand it here" said Demented, a small light of hope showing in his eyes. Izra gave him the bucket after removing the cover of it. Demented held the bucket to Jump's lips, but when he did not drink after a few seconds, he opened Jump's mouth and poured in some of the milk. Jump swallowed weakly, and we sat there, waiting to see what would happen, barely daring to hope that Jump would be ok.

We did not have to wait long. The tiny amount of milk had a devastating effect on the gray patch of skin. It rapidly shrank, until it was about half of its previous size. After a few more sips of milk, it was gone completely, and Jump was sleeping peacefully in Bekka's arms.

"He should be fine now" said Demented.

"I will take him to his room" said Bekka.

"I would suggest that you did not do that" said Herobrine "The creature outside would not appreciate any intrusion into its territory."

"What exactly is this creature?" demanded Bekka "I am sure you know, and I am tired of you putting it off. Tell us now, or I will set the Pigmen on you"

"There is no need for that" said Demented, looking offended "I was going to tell you now anyway."

"Well get on with it then" said Bekka "We have not got all day"

"Well" said Demented "The creature who is currently trying to knock down the walls of this place and get to us is a Wither. It is a member of a species that was created, like my own species, by Teloxen."  
"Wait, what?" gasped Flare "Were you aware of this?" He asked Herobrine.

Herobrine paused for a moment, then said "Yes, I was. We had decided not to tell any others about it except when it became a necessity."

"If you were created by Teloxen, then why are you allied with Herobrine" asked Izra curiously.

"Well, my people were created first by Teloxen, then he created the Withers to oversee us. Some of us did not agree with what Teloxen and the Withers wanted us to do, so we snuck away and went to Herobrine for help in resisting the powers of the others, and we have never looked back."

"So that is why some of the Wither skeletons do not listen to you" said Bekka.

"Yes" said Demented "I am sorry I did not tell you before, but I believe that it was the right choice."

When Demented had finished his story, we stood, considering what had been said. Our thoughts were interrupted by an enormous crashing noise, and the left wall of the room tumbled down, revealing a T shaped flying creature with rib-like protrusions on its lower section, and three skull-like heads spaced evenly on the top of the shape.

"Oh dear" gulped Demented "It is a Wither"

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**A/N:I hope that you guys all enjoyed this chapter. Now it is time for questions for the characters.**

**From DementedDarkness to Herobrine:Herobrine, you are a lord of the Nether, do you have more titles and also if Teloxen banished you too the Nether then why can he not  
hear anything in it? he basically has powers of Notch and chaos so how is it  
possile he can't listen in a realm?**

**Herobrine: Other titles, hm... I am an honorary lord of many mob types both in the Nether and overworld because I created them. Other than that, I would have to say lord of pranks and trickery, and lord of traitors, which is what Teloxen calls me. Teloxen can hear what happens in my realm, but he doesn't really listen much. He is not concerned with what we say there, because none of his allies are there to hear it and switch sides. Most of his listening focuses on the Overworld, where his allies could become his enemies.**

**Me:One note about Herobrine being banished. Notch actually was the one who banished Herobrine, although he did use a lot of Teloxen's power to do it. It was right after that when Teloxen started to pretend to be Notch instead of just influencing his choices.**

**From DementedDarkness to Demented: You originally had a half a white and half black mask, why was that changed.**

**Demented: I do not know. I guess I just decided to change it up a bit. Also I can't find my old mask. I think Jump might have "Borrowed" it.**

**Remember, leave any questions that you have for the characters in a review or PM them to me. If you have anything else that you would like to comment on, I would be glad to hear it, and you can leave it in a review. I hope that you have a great day, and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	12. Wither Battle

**A/N: Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank DementedDarkness, Spazington36, and kitten (Guest) for reviewing this week. I am sorry that this is a bit late, but I did not want to split it up so it took a bit longer to write. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Flare's POV **

When I first saw the Wither, it was like something out of a nightmare had made its way into the real world, and was determined to destroy us in any way it could think of. I had never witnessed such extreme destruction being carried out by a single individual, and although it was terrifying to watch, somehow you also had to respect such a creature. Even the ghasts did not have such destructive prowess as this creature who drew ever closer to us, carrying with it the tools it wished to use to bring about our destruction.

I could tell that many of the others were having a similar reaction to mine, with a few exceptions. Both Herobrine and Demented were looking at the creature with scorn rather than admiration, which was to be expected, for this was not their first time in its presence. Jump was asleep in Bekka's arms, so he was not aware of the scene playing out around him. What really surprised me, was Ender's reaction to the creature. Rather than looking at it with an expression of admiration or scorn, she gazed at it with an expression that faintly showed one emotion, pity. It was not an emotion that one usually had for a powerful opponent such as this one, and I wondered why she was looking at it in that way.

**Ender's POV**

The wither stood before us, gathering strength to continue its assault after breaking through many layers of tough netherbrick walls. I should have felt afraid, but all I really felt was detachment, as if I was merely an observer to this great gathering of lords, who were about to do battle against a great evil. I suddenly sensed an odd feeling coming from our would-be opponent.

*It is the Wither* said Mist *It is in torment. Whoever created it has not done a very good job, and this creature lives in torment between this world and the next. It wants to be free of this realm, and it expends its great amount of anger on attacking others who do not stand on the bridge between life and death, hoping that if it shows its torment to others, they will free it of its pain.*

_You have to remember that the Wither was made by Teloxen_ I said to Mist_ Chaos lords are not exactly known for their ability to create anything. Twist it yes, into new and vile shapes of their own choosing, but for a chaos lord, even this level of creature building is pretty impressive_

*True* said Mist *But in this case, I think it was not the chaos power used, but rather the abilities given to the Wither that causes their pain. Remember, the Wither skeletons were also created by Teloxen, and they have no such problems*

_Be that as it may, it still does not change the fact that Teloxen's creation now faces us as an opponent_.

*No* sighed Mist _*_I do wish that there was something we could do to give the creature a pleasant life, but at this point death is a more merciful option._*_

I looked up sadly at the creature, wishing that it could be tamed rather than destroyed. Its manner was reminiscent of Eclipse, my ender dragon friend, who I missed dearly.

*Perhaps one day they shall be befriended* said Mist *But until then, we must treat it as we would any other opponent*

This conversation had taken place during the span of only a handful of heartbeats, at the rapid pace at which thoughts did travel. The Wither approached us, slowly at first, but growing faster as it covered the few dozen blocks between us and the other side of the immense room we currently resided in. As it traveled, it made a whooshing roar sound, which echoed from wall to wall, combining with new waves and growing louder with each new roar. I resigned myself to the fact that I had to fight, then concentrated my powers on shifting back to my normal form.

**Flare's POV**

Around me, I could sense shifts in the flow of the natural magic found in this realm as the magic of other realms was brought to use. Izra was shifting into his half Creeper form, where he had a Creeper-like lower body, and the upper body, arms and head of a Crafter. I sensed a different magic that I had not sensed before, and guessed that Ender had also been in a Crafter form rather than her true one. In the light of the glowstone blocks scattered throughout the room, I gazed in awe at what I saw. Ender's true form was magnificent. She had large wings covered in different shades of purple and black feathers that seemed to shimmer with inner light. Her tail swished from side to side, as if anticipating a strike, its motion sending shifting shades of variation down the colored feathers which covered it. She almost seemed to glow with an otherworldly light as she completed her transformation, and stood ready to fight the creature which lay before us. I shook my self out of the daze that I had fallen into, and tried to return my full attention to the coming fight, hoping that the slight blush on my cheeks would not be visible in the dim light.

**Wither's POV**

They stood before me, the whole lot of them. Spaced in am small semicircle as if to invite me to attack a single one. But that would bring my downfall, because as soon as I attacked one, my attention would leave the others and I would quickly fall to their cruel blades and spells.

Lately though, I had been secretly wishing that an opponent I was sent out to face would bring and end to my pained existence. At least then, the tearing of the chaos within me at the magic of the Nether and the Overworld that gave me life would come to an end. I would at last be able to rest instead of constantly having to be aware of the balance of chaos and other magics within me.

*Do not think of such trivial things* a voice said from within me, and I knew my master had turned his attention to what I had been thinking *I shall bring your powers to balance and keep them that way while you fight. You must remember our mission, for when it is complete there shall be no problem with keeping chaos and the other magics in you balanced*

_Very well master_ I thought _I know my duty and shall carry it out._

I felt the effect of my master's power almost immediately. The chaos in me became focused on gathering for attacks rather than breaking down my only link to life. A bit of the other magic was caught in the large pockets of chaos, corrupting it, creating my greatest weapon. Withering magic. I silently cursed my creator for making me live with a blend of magic rather than this pure magic that could be created within me. This is why I had left, like several others of my kind.

I had left and joined with our master in order to help him fulfill his goal. Our master was far more powerful than the one who created us, and I was sure that we would be the victors of whatever conflict he set about creating. I felt a faint intrusion in the aura of magic that was surrounding my might form. It was almost nothing compared to the awesome power that I wielded when my power was supplemented by my master's, but its type caused me to pay immediate attention to its source.

I identified the magic as the magic of wither skeletons, which is composed in the same way as my great power, but with much weaker forms of both chaos and the other magics. This makes them less powerful, but it also makes the powers that they do have much easier to maintain without disrupting the balance of the two different magics. Many of my kind had no love for the Wither skeletons, and relished any chance to prove that they were better than them. I did not really care either way, but this Wither skeleton was different. It carried around it an air of authority that I had only ever sensed once before, when the Wither skeletons had split, and some of them had left to join Herobrine's alliance. This skeleton seemed to be trying to listen to what I was speaking to my master about. Furious that any creature would dare try to listen to my thoughts, I followed the thin trail of magic back to its source, doing my best not to disrupt it with my own magic. When I reached the source of the magic, I poured random emotions into where the magic was emerging, trying to overwhelm its mind so that it would stop trying to eavesdrop on me.

After several moments, a feeling of triumph filled me as the stream of magic flickered, then faded completely. Pleased, I turned my attention to the other in the party, and focused on bringing them down as my master had commanded.

**Ender's POV**

We stood there, now fully ready to engage the wither before us. Izra had shifted his form like I had, which I had not known he could do. All of a sudden, Demented fell to his knees, his hands pressed against the side of his head.

"It is trying to get me out of it's head" he hissed, eyes squeezed tightly closed "I was trying to link with it, so I could find out why it is here, and it detected me. Now it is trying to do something else, but I am not sure what." Demented fell forward, his hands splaying out to either side of him, and his head resting on the netherbrick floor. Flare knelt down and placed his fingers against Demented's wrist, feeling for a heartbeat.

"He is ok" he said "I think the Wither overwhelmed his mind and caused him to pass out."

"Well that settles it" said Herobrine "I do not really care who this guy is here, anyone who tried to mess up my lords is going to get it." Herobrine pulled out a diamond sword and leveled it at the wither "Lets do this thing!"

Bekka placed Jump on the floor next to Demented, then stood over them, her golden sword up in a ready position. "I will protect these two" she said "You guys deal with that thing over there."

Izra pulled out his bow and fitted an arrow to the string, holding it with an ease that alluded to the skill with which he used it.

Flare grabbed two blaze rods out of his pocket, then held them, one in each hand.

"What are those?" I asked him "Surely you do not expect to use them to fight this creature."

"Yep" said Flare "It is fine anyway. These are blaze wands. Lords of blazes can create them out of blaze rods. They are used to channel our magic into spells and stuff."

"Oh, ok" I said, getting the basic idea of what he was talking about.

*Draw your weapon* said Mist *We must be ready for when this creature decides to attack*

I drew a thin diamond sword out of my pack and held it at ready position, as I had so many times when I was first learning to fight. The sword was a special one that Shadow had made me for my thirteenth birthday. I t was much thinner than a normal diamond sword, and balanced to compliment my style of fighting. It had many enchantments on it as well, so many in fact that I was never quite sure if I knew what all of them were.

"Nice sword" said Bekka, glancing over from where she stood.

Herobrine glanced at his sword, making sure that it was the correct one, then charged towards the Wither, jumping from block to block along the remains of the wall, until he was at the same height as it. Just as he was about to give the creature a good whack with his sword, the Wither turned its full attention to Herobrine. I suspected that before this, we had not been attacked due to the fact that if it had devoted attention to one of us, even for a second, the others would have attacked it and damaged it quite efficiently. There were simply too many of us against it for it to stand a chance in that situation, but since Herobrine had attacked first, it removed any need of devoting attention to singling out an opponent, so the time to strike had arisen.

Herobrine took a huge leap back, trying to avoid the ball of energy with the dark lines of a wither skeleton skull suspended within it in dark lines of magic. Unfortunately, his leap took him not onto another block, but into open air. He fell all the way to the ground, screaming and flailing about as he did so. He crashed into a large chest and set bits of dust and netherrack flying from where it had settled. He did not move from where he had fallen, and I guessed that he had been knocked out by the fall.

"This is not good" said Flare "That wither has already taken out two of us with almost no effort"

"We just have to be more careful" I said "If we are smart about this, everything should go pretty well."

Izra had not been paying much attention to this, but rather sizing up the Wither, judging where the best place would be to stick it full of arrows. He loosed the arrow on his bow into the space between the Wither's center skull and its body. Almost as quickly as he had loosed his first arrow, a second had taken its place on Izra's bow.

"That is pretty effective" said Flare, jumping sideways to avoid yet another ball of energy. The wither began to focus more of it's shots on Izra, the only member of our party who was currently doing any damage to it. Flare glanced at me and said "Follow me, maybe we can do some damage to it while Izra is distracting it."

"Got it" I said, following Flare up the scattering of blocks that led upwards. The right head of the wither turned to where we were climbing and began to shoot in our direction as well as at Izra. "Did you know it could do that?" I yelled to Flare, making a jump to the next block just before the one I jumped from was blasted out of existence by an energy ball. It was times like this that I was grateful I had spent so much time practicing parkour.

"No!" yelled Flare, grabbing the edge of another block just before the one he stood on disintegrated into clumps of glowstone dust. "You have to remember that I had never even seen a Wither before today, let alone fought against one."

The wither suddenly gained a bright blue aura, similar to that of a charged Creeper, and it began to descend to the floor.

"What happened?" yelled Izra "Did you guys do something up there?"

"No" I yelled "What happened?"

"I am not sure exactly" said Izra "I was just shooting arrows at it, when it suddenly did this. And when it did, my arrows did not effect it anymore."

Down below, I notice that one of the spheres of energy we had dodged was heading straight for where Bekka, Jump and Demented lay. At some point during the fight, Bekka had been knocked out by something or other. I watched in horror, knowing that if they were hit, none of them would escape without at least some serious injuries.

Just before the sphere hit them, Demented's dark orb appeared in his hand, and a ray on pale light shot out of it, expanding into a small dome that covered the three figure.

*Hurry* I heard Demented say weakly, the words almost silent through the mental link he had created *I do not know how much longer I can protect us for*

"Did you hear that guys?" I asked, wanting to make sure that they had understood the urgency of what we had to do.

"Yup" said both Flare and Izra in turn.

"Well if bows do not work, then let's just use swords" said Flare.

"Oh yay" said Izra, sounding extremely unenthusiastic about that idea "Swords, my favorite weapon of all time."

"You don't even have a sword do you?" I asked him.

"No, I do" said Izra "it is just that it is...Well, take a look" He pulled out an almost broken stone sword, the faintest sheen of an enchantment visible on its surface.

"Well" said Flare, looking down "It certainly looks, uh, well used"

"Yeah" said Izra, looking down at it and taking a massive leap backwards to avoid several orbs of energy the Wither had thrown at him. "It is the only sword I have ever made,and I only use it for emergencies."

"Enough talk" I said "Let's deal with this thing before it owns us. You can tell your life stories later"

I jumped down from the high point where I had climbed to, using my wings to glide safely to the ground. *You really need to work on your flying* said Mist *This whole thing would have been a lot easier if you could just fly over to the creature*

_Not a good time_ I said to her, hoping it would keep her quiet. I touched down safely on the ground, and heard Flare touch down as well beside me. Then I charged towards the Wither, brandishing my sword as I did so. Flare's footsteps sounded beside me, and at the halfway point to the Wither, Izra's steps joined our charge.

I was forced to take a more evasive course towards our target when it turned its firepower towards us, providing Demented some much needed relief for his shield spell. We finally reached the Wither after dodging dozens of its energy spheres, and after a few moments of hacking and dodging, the creature was almost out of life.

I slid my sword into the space between its center head and where it was attached and twisted, feeling the resistance lessen as the creature's remaining health drained from its body. It fired one last blast of plasma, then sank to the ground, its aura fading quickly. It hit the ground, then its body began to crumble into dust, leaving only a strange glowing object and dozens of orbs of experience behind.

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**A/N:I hope that you guys have enjoyed this chapter. A lot of information was implied in this chapter that will be discussed more deeply later, so keep that in mind if you are trying to figure out what will happen next. As always, I need questions for the characters to be answered in the next chapter. I always appreciate reviews no matter what you have to say, as long as it is polite. I hope that you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye :D**


	13. Injuries and Unexpected Meetings

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I am glad that you guys are liking the story, and I would like to thank you guys for your time in reading it. You guys motivate me to write every week ,and I thank you for that. As of posting this, we have also just reached 1,000 views on this story, so thanks to everyone for that. On with the chapter.**

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**Wither's Master's POV**

I sensed at once that my minion had been defeated, but that was to be expected. I had never truly believed that foolish creature had any chance of bringing an end to even one of the beings it had fought. No, this mission had been complete suicide, but for good reason. Linked with the creature as I had been, I was able to see the fighting styles of those who opposed my mission, though they were not yet aware of my part in this game of worlds.

"You do not know who you are dealing with. You may think Teloxen is your adversary, But I am much more powerful than he. And mark my words, if you ever meet me, you shall regret that day for the rest of your existence." I leaned back, gazing at the several magic viewing screens that showed various significant figures from throughout the four realms, plotting my next move against my targets.

**Ender's POV**

The orbs of experience slid along the floor, some of them heading towards each person close to it. I shivered slightly as the orbs came into contact with my skin and were absorbed, merging with my natural magic. No matter how many times it happened, I never quite was prepared for the tingling sensation caused by the touch of the experience orbs.

"What is this thing?" Asked Izra, bending over and picking up the strange, glowing object that had been left by the Wither.

"Don't know" said Flare, shrugging "You will have to ask Demented about that."

"It is a Nether star" said Demented, struggling to his feet, the strain of having to keep his shield up against the constant attack of the Wither evident in his every step. "You can use it to create a beacon, which gives you special boosts."

"Cool" said Izra.

"We should get these guys to a med area" said Flare, gesturing to where Herobrine, Bekka and Jump lay on the Netherbrick.

"True" I said, walking over to where Herobrine lay, draped over the chest.

*Be careful* said Mist *He could have broken something when he fell.*

_Why didn't he fly? _I asked her _I know that he has the ability to._

*It requires a certain amount of concentration* she said *He probably did not have enough time to react to what happened to him*

Looking at Herobrine, I saw that there was blood leaking out from the edge of where he lay, between the chest and his cyan shirt.

*That is not good* said Mist *Its location probably means that he broke something. You are going to have to be very careful moving him*

_Got it_ I said. I focused my magic through my antennae, drawing upon the strength that I would need to levitate Herobrine. I figured that would be the best way to transport him if his back was injured. I raised him up a bit, being careful to keep his body level so that I would not hurt him any further.

Flare came over and said "We got the others upstairs, so I came to see if you needed any help here."

"Not really" I said "This is just taking a while because he has damage to his back, and I do not want to make it any worse."

"Do you want me to take a look?" he asked "If we know what damage there is, we could then decide what actions were appropriate."

"Ok" I agreed. Flare dropped to the ground and slid underneath where Herobrine floated.

"Well it looks like he fractured part of his spine when he fell, and it broke the skin, which is where the blood came from. The good news is that it looks like his natural healing has kicked in, so I think you should be good to take him up to the med area."

"Cool" I said "Lets get him up there."

When we reached the med area at last, after carrying Herobrine up several flights of stairs and through many long corridors, I lowered Herobrine onto one of the wool cushions that served as beds.

"How is he?" asked Izra, looking at Herobrine with concern.

"Better" I said "He had broken part of his spine when we found him, but it is pretty much healed now. Mostly, he just needs to rest until he is fully healed and he recovers completely."

"That is good" said Izra, looking relieved "This realm would soon fall to the lords of chaos if he was not able to protect it."

The loud sound of many Ghasts gathering caused me to glance out one of the small windows in the nether fortress. What I saw surprised me. Four Ghasts flew in a square formation around another Ghast who wore what looked like a crown. I was not familiar with the flying patters of most Ghasts, but I doubted that they usually flew in such large groups.

*The center one is their leader* said Mist *The back two Ghasts are also carrying one person each.*

I looked closer at the approaching Ghasts and saw that Mist was correct. Turning to the others in the room, I said "Guys, there is a group of Ghasts coming here. I think they were alerted by what happened with the Wither."

"Lets get up on the roof then" suggested Izra "Ghasts would not fit down here very well."

"Good point" I said.

"You guys do that" said Demented "I will stay down here with these guys to make sure they are ok."

Izra, Flare and I headed towards the stairway that wound its way up to the top of the fortress. When we reached the top. I saw the group of Ghasts waiting at the top of the tower. The two figures that I had seen before had been joined by another, and they were all standing atop the tower.

_Who is that third person?_ I asked Mist _And more importantly, where did he come from?_

*The new person is probably the Ghast leader that we saw* she said *Most mob leaders have the ability to turn into a Crafter form because that is the form the realm lords chose at the creation of the worlds.*

_Who is the Ghast leader?_ I asked.

*I do not remember* confessed Mist *And it has probably changed since then. Even though lords live a long time, they probably would have trained a replacement by now.*

I looked at the three figures who stood before us in a rough triangle pattern, with the two I had seen before slightly farther back than the new figure. The center figure was very pale, with slightly darker streaks running across his skin. He had light gray hair, which was mostly covered by the gold crown that he wore. He wore pale gray robes with flame patterns running down the sides and sleeves.

The figure to his right was was a girl with a slim build, and lava colored eyes that seemed to change color slightly as her gaze moved from place to place. Her hair was jet black except where it was streaked through with yellow, orange and red strands. She wore a t-shirt the color of netherrack, and white shorts.

The figure to the left of the center figure could not have been more different from her. He was over three blocks tall, with well defined muscles on every part of his body. His hair was quite fluffy looking, and it stuck out all over his head. He had both a beard and mustache composed of the same fluffy hair, and I wondered if he was trying to hid behind it, because it covered a great majority of his face. I could see narrowed violet eyes peeking out from behind his mustache, but they held in them a spark of warmth, closely controlled, but undeniably present. His skin was the lightest I had ever seen, only a shade darker than freshly fallen snow. Most of it was covered by a long white coat that stretched almost all the way to the floor. The coat stopped just high enough to reveal that the man wore black leather boots, shined and well cared for so that they looked like new. The figure turned to investigate some sound coming from across the lava lake, and I saw that a diamond sword and a bow were strapped to his back, one slanted each direction so that they crossed in the middle and formed an X shape across his back. Both of them were much large than traditional Crafter weapons, and they glowed with many enchantments.

Looking at the group, I wondered who they were and why they had come. The center figure stepped forward and said to flare "Is Herobrine alright? We sensed that something happened and came right away."

"He is going to be fine" said Flare "In the mean time, why don't you guys introduce yourselves to Izra and Ender."

"Of course" said the man "I am Chenzir, lord of Ghasts, and their ruler. This man," he said, gesturing to the man to his left "Is Ghastly. He is also a lord of Ghasts, and he helps me out a lot. He will become the next Ghast ruler when I step down."

"I am Rune" the girl said.

"She was left in the Nether when she was a child" said Chenzir "Her mother was a Crafter who hated the idea of having a half-blood child. She is half Crafter, a quarter Ghast and a quarter Blaze, so when we found her, my people took her in and showed her how to use her powers."

"If I ever see my mother" said Rune "I am going to make he pay for the grief that she has caused me over the years." As she spoke, a ring of fire sprung up around her and slowly started expanding outwards. Izra and I took a small step backwards, unsure as to how far the fire would spread.

"Control your temper" said Chenzir "We do not want you to set anyone on fire today"

"Fine" muttered Rune, annoyance in her voice.

"Since we are here, we shall see what we can do to help Herobrine around here" said Chenzir.

"Sure" said Flare "Right this way"

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**A/N: I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I would like to thank kitten(Guest) for their OC, Ghastly, and Blueseas17 for their OC, Rune. I will do my best to put any OCs that I am sent into the story, even if it is only as a cameo. I also need questions for the characters, which can be sent as a PM, or left in the review section. Reviews are always appreciated, and I always enjoy receiving them. I hope you all have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D **


	14. Questions and Warnings

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I forgot to thank people for reviews last chapter, so I would like to thank Spazington36 for reviewing. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer:I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Ender's POV**

Flare led Chenzir, Rune and Ghastly down to the med area where all of the others were. When we reached the med area, I saw that both Jump and Herobrine were awake. Jump was pouring random things into a brewing stand, and pouring the resulting bottles of liquid over a small magma cube to see what would happen. I did not think that the magma cube would appreciate it, but to my surprise, the small creature actually seemed to be enjoying itself.

Herobrine stood looking out one of the windows, his arms crossed behind his back just below where the break in his spine had been. There was a large patch of his shirt covered in blood, and at its center, a large tear. Looking at it, I realized that it was a good thing that realm lords had accelerated natural healing. He would never have lived through his experience with the wither otherwise.

"Lord Herobrine" said Flare, oddly formal "The Ghast lords are here to see you."

I was about to follow Flare into the center of the room, when Izra pulled me back and hissed into my ear "No, do not do that"

"Why?" I whispered.

"The Ghasts have a few strange beliefs about people from different realms" said Izra "They do not like it when outsiders try to mess with their business."

*Listen to Izra* said Mist *We do not know everything about this situation, and until we do, I do not think it would be wise to mess with the affairs of other races*

_Sure,it might not be the best idea_ I said _But talking to the Ghast lords could give us some valuable information about the prophecy. And you know we need all the information we can get._

*I will not stop you* said Mist *But it is all on you if something happens.*

_Well it is not like your demands are anything new_ I said _You always ask for that, and yet you always end up getting blamed._

I walked towards where the others stood, ignoring the protests of Izra as I did so. "Hello" I said when I reached where they were standing "We have not been properly introduced. I am Ender"

They all looked at me in surprise, except Flare, who had a resigned expression, as if he had expected this to happen.

"Is this one of your lords?" asked Rune, looking confused "Because I do not remember ever seeing her here before."

"No, she is not one of my lords" said Herobrine.

"She is one of Shadow's lords I presume" said Chenzir, earning shocked looks from the others.

"How do you know that?" I asked, voicing the question I was sure the others also had.

"I met Shadow once, a long time ago, and you have the same aura around you." said Chenzir.

"I had forgotten that you met Shadow" said Herobrine.

"He was not here for long" said Chenzir "But he changed much. He helped me to gain the respect of my people." Turning to me, he asked "What do you wish to know child? I sense that you have a reason for daring to speak to us against the wishes of your friend over there." He gestured to where Izra stood in the entranceway of the room, anxiously watching what was happening. "He misunderstood our belief, so now he thinks we oppose lords from other realms. It does not help that he fears Ghasts either."

"Oh, that explains it" I said "Anyway, the entire reason that I am here is to discover more about a prophecy that I found in Shadow's library."

Glancing at Herobrine, Chenzir asked "May I tell them?"

"It is time" he said "Do it"

"Herobrine and I spent many hours discussing the prophecy you speak of. We first knew that the prophecy had begun when Flare became a lord and first brought Izra here. The prophecy speaks of a lord from each realm, and those two seemed to be the first lords."

"When Izra brought you here" said Herobrine "I knew that you had to be the lord from the End mentioned in the prophecy."

"I kind of figured" I said "There are not exactly a huge number of lords from the End. Anyway, what do we need to do now that we have the lords of three realms?"

"You need to find the lord of stars" said Chenzir "There is no way for the prophecy to be fulfilled unless the group who goes to challenge Teloxen includes that lord. Without them, there is no way that you can hope to be successful."

"But how would we even begin to look for such a person?" I asked "I have never seen a star lord, and even if the others have, all of them are said to have been killed by Teloxen in order to prevent the very thing that we are trying to do."

"I do not think we can do anything to help you" said Chenzir "Lords of Ghasts are not exactly well loved in the Overworld if you now what I mean."

"They will always treat you as different" said Ghastly, his voice deep and quiet "Even if you say you are there to save them, they will persecute you. You must not let the Crafters know of your mission if at all possible. They do not know the whole story of what happened, so they see anyone who is connected in any way to either the Nether or the End as a threat to their way of life."

"Good to know" I said "I will be sure to keep that in mind."

"Go with her Flare" said Herobrine "If she finds the lord of stars, you will be needed."

"Ok" said Flare

"There are supplies" said Demented, looking up from sorting a pile of items that he had picked up. "Grab some, then use the portal in the east wing to leave"

Flare nodded in acknowledgment, then walked towards the entrance of the room, gesturing for me and Izra to follow. I did so, since I had no idea where anything was located in the Nether fortress we were in.

We at least reached the supplies room, and Flare pushed a series of buttons in sequence. A pair of blocks in the corner of the room slid aside, revealing several large chests, which when opened revealed supplies that we would need for a trip to the Overworld. We gathered up the supplies and headed to the portal, which was conveniently located just down the hall from where we had gotten supplies. We went through the portal and the world resolved itself into the green textures of the Overworld.

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**A/N:I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Please consider leaving a review if you enjoyed this chapter. I also need questions for the characters, which can be sent to me in a PM or left as part of a review. I hope that you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	15. Captured

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank Spazington36 and Kitten(guest) for reviewing this week. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer:I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Ender's POV**

The portal spawned us in a lush meadow, not far from the edge of a dense forest.

"We should all probably shift into out Crafter forms" said Izra "If anyone sees us like this, well I doubt they would stick around to say hello"

"Yeah, they would be pretty surprised wouldn't they" I admitted. I focused on shifting into my Crafter form, and it was not long before I succeeded. I looked towards the others and saw that they had also become their Crafter forms.

A soft crackling of leaved behind me alerted me to the fact that something was amiss. I spun around, peering into the forest, looking for the source of the sound.

"What's wrong?" asked Flare, looking concerned.

"I heard something" I said.

"I heard it too" said Izra, drawing his bow "And it sounded like a pretty large creature."

"Do you sense any mobs around here?" I asked Izra anxiously, hoping that there was a source for the sound other than the one that I thought it could be.

"Not over there" said Izra.

"What about you Flare?" I asked "A creature could have come through the portal."

"I do not sense any" he said.

"Well that means there is a Crafter over there" I said "And where there is one Crafter, there is likely to be more."

A sound of several creatures jumping off leaf blocks and hitting the ground came from behind us. Before I could turn around to see what creatures they were, I heard the shattering of potion bottles and the world went dark around me.

When the world cleared, I was in a totally different place from where I had been before.

"What happened?" I moaned, not realizing I was speaking in the language of the End."

"Quiet prisoner!" I heard someone yell.

"Shh Ender" I heard Izra whisper "We do not want them to hear us."

"Where are we?" I asked, struggling to get the last bits of darkness out of my vision.

"We are in some type of prison camp" said Izra "A Crafter patrol saw us shape shifting, and they thought we were some type of mob magicians from the Nether, trying to pass ourselves off as Crafters so that we could spy on them."

"So we are trapped?" I asked, finally realizing that I was speaking the Enderman's language and switching to Crafter speak.

"Do not speak in that language" said Izra, in what I realized was Creeper speak. "I do not think they are aware we can speak their language, so we may be able to gain some information from our guards before they realize we can understand them."  
"Ok" I said, trying to sound sure of myself. In reality though, I was terrified. At this moment, I wished I had never heard of the prophecy or left the End. I just wanted to be home, safe from all this trouble.

*Do not be scared child* said Mist *Things may seem difficult now, but this is only a setback. We shall find a way to continue our mission if it is the last things we do*

_That is what I am afraid of_ I said to her, pulling my legs to my chest and hugging them tightly.

"Is everything ok?" asked Flare in slightly accented Creeper speak, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I guess so" I said, wiping a few half formed tears from my eyes.

"Good" said Flare, looking relived "We all need to be focused if we have any chance of getting out of here."

"Silence!" I heard a guard yell, this time in broken Creeper speak "Sleep now. Tomorrow will come soon"

I lay on the hard ground, listening to the chatter of the guards for a while. They did not say much that cleared up any of the things I was wondering about, but one thing I heard surprised me. One of the guards said that we would be mover in with the other prisoners soon. Apparently this was not a small, temporary camp, but a permanent settlement.

The guards came to make sure that we were sleeping, and I hastily closed my eyes, hoping that the guards had not noticed I was awake. They walked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I closed my eyes once more and drifted off into uneasy sleep.

I awoke early, the first rays of sun dazzling my eyes and bringing me to my senses. I was not used to this type of brightness, as there was no cycle of night and day in the End. I used the iron bars that formed the front of our cell to pull myself to my feet. I looked out into the camp, which I could now see clearly in the light of day. A larger version of the cell where we were trapped was located perpendicular to where we were. Several sleeping figures wrapped in blankets could be seen lying on the hard floor. Several larger and considerably better built buildings were dotted throughout the clearing where the camp had been built. I guessed that they were what the guards used as barracks. As I watched, a group of five guards exited one of the buildings and walked over towards where we were.

**Guard's POV**

We exited our quarters and marched towards where the prisoners were held. One of the other patrols had caught a couple of mob shape shifters near the southern meadow, and we had to check on them to make sure they did not have any weapons or such on them. We already had confiscated most of the stuff they had, and it was quite an impressive array of items. Now we needed to do one last check to make sure that they had not been hiding anything that could be used to escape.

I looked into the cell and saw one of the prisoners, the girl, staring back at me. I jumped back in surprise, to the amusement of my companions. I had not expected any of the prisoners to be awake at this time of day. Most mobs were nocturnal, and would have been most comfortable sleeping around this time, before the sun rose completely.

"Back up prisoner" I said, trying to regain my composure.

She looked at me, a flash of what looked like amusement crossed her face, before being replaced with confusion. "Wthiuop?" she said, sounding like one of the Endermen who sometimes were seen around these parts.

"Oh yeah" I said, feeling silly and glancing around to see if my teammates had seen me. Fortunately, they all seemed to be occupied with one task or another "I forgot that you can not speak Crafter. That must stink, not being able to talk to us."

*Please let us out* I heard someone say, quietly, almost as if it had been whispered in my ear. Confused, I turned around and saw that there was no one behind me. I looked back to the girl, and saw her looking at me again, a hopeful expression on her face.

"Was that you?" I asked.

She froze for a moment, before nodding.

"I can not let you out" I said "You wanted to spy on us so that you could bring us down. You mobs just want our land for yourselves."

A flash of irritation crossed the girl's face, and I heard the voice say *Just because someone tells you something about a group of creatures does not mean that it is true. You may be a Crafter, but that does not mean that you can not make your own opinions about other species.*

When she finished, she stalked over to the other End of the cell, and stood there, leaning against the wall and observing the movements of my team as they completed their work. Walking away from the cell, a thought struck me. If she had not been able to understand Crafter speak, then how had she responded to what I said?

**Ender's POV**

I watched the guard walk away, wondering if I had done the right thing by speaking to him. It had used a lot of energy even to so the simple telepathy required to communicate mentally with him. I glared down at the little bands that circled my wrists. I had noticed them when I awoke and it had not taken me long to discover that they blocked almost all of my magic. I had noticed similar bands on Izra and Flare, and figured they were used in order to keep prisoners from using magic to escape. Still, knowing what the bracelets did did not help me to feel any better about having to wear them.

The guard from the night before, the one who spoke Creeper, although not very well, came over and yelled "Get up you lazy mobs! It is time for you to meet your new cell mates!"

Izra and Flare woke up and sleepily stretched, wiping the sleep from their eyes as they did so.

"Back away from the bars" the man said. We complied, and a section of the bars slid aside, allowing the guard to step inside. "Now prisoners" he said "We are going to move you to a new cell. But if even one of you tries to make a run for it, you all will be shot." For emphasis, he gestured to where several archers sat atop tall towers, monitoring the grounds. We followed him as he led us towards the other cell, wondering what kinds of creatures we would find inside.

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**A/N:I hope that you guys have enjoyed this chapter. Please consider leaving a review if you did. I also need questions for the characters, so if you have any, you can PM them to me or leave them in a review. I could also use some OC's for people in the prison, so if you have any ideas, feel free to send them to me. I hope that you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	16. Planning Escape

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank Spazington36 for reviewing this week. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer:I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Ender's POV**

The prison where we were being led held at least two dozen figures, in a variety of species. Most were Crafters, although I assumed that some of them were merely shape shifted mobs, but there were a few spiders and zombies distributed throughout the room. What really surprised me was the group of three Creepers near the back of the cell. I had not thought that a Crafter would be able to catch a Creeper and keep it in one place without an explosion occurring.

The beings in the cell glared at the guards as they passed, then many of them turned to watch out approach as we were led towards them.

"Back away from the bars" said the guard who led us to the cell.

"Or what?" asked one of the figures in the cell, a black furred male fox-crafter hybrid who wore black pants, a blue belt, and a gray shirt. Over this, he wore a long black trench coat and a black fedora. Glowing green eyes peered out from underneath his hat, and the tip of a tail poked out from beneath his coat. "You have already got us locked up for doing nothing more than disagreeing with your high lord's views. It is pretty hard to get much worse than that."

"If you do not stop being smart" the guard said sharply "I am going to put your friend there outside without anything to protect him from the sun."

"No!" gasped the man, putting his arm protectively in front of his friend. Taking a closer look at the figure, I saw that it was not a Crafter, but rather a skeleton wearing white robes, and brown leather boots and gloves, no doubt to protect it from the very fate that was being threatened.

"Then do as you are told" the guard said.

"Just do it Shade" said a voice from deeper within the room. "It is not worth it to cause trouble."

"Fine" muttered Shade, backing away from the bars unhappily. The guard opened up the bars to the cell once all of the prisoners had backed up. Then we were herded into the dark room.

The bars clanged shut behind us, and the guard left us there with the other prisoners.

"Well, now that the guards are gone" said Shade "We can welcome you here, although I really wish we did not have to. It is always a bit awkward, welcoming someone to a prison cell where they could be stuck forever. Anyway, I am Shade, my friend is David, and that guy over there who is always trying to keep me from making trouble is Victor."

I looked over to where he had pointed and saw a young Crafter wearing a navy blue shirt and matching pants. Over it, he wore a black cape and a black baseball cap, along with black shoes. Dark blue eyes darted around, glancing at different points beyond the prison bars, as if to ensure that no guards were returning.

Izra looked surprised. "As in lord of skeletons Victor?" he asked.

"Yes" said Shade "He took over as one of the skeleton lords after a Crafter killed his father, who had been training him as his apprentice lord of skeletons. The guy did not mean to do it, and took the kid in until he was a bit older. I found him getting ganged up on by some Crafter farmers and we have been traveling together since. He kind of needed someone to finish his training."

"So you are a lord of skeletons too?" asked Flare.

"Yes" said Shade.

"So who are you guys?" asked another prisoner, this one with pale skin, red eyes black hair of medium length, a slightly pointed nose and slight fangs protruding from his mouth. He wore dark gray garments in the style of many of the royal families throughout the realms. A purple scarf with an ender pearl image on it was wrapped loosely around his neck, but it was apparent that it could be pulled up to hide his fangs in a moment's time.

"Well" said Izra "this is Flare and Ender, and I am Izra."

*These guys look sad* said Mist *You should let them out when you make your great escape*

_And how would I do that?_ I asked her in annoyance _I do not exactly have much to work with right now._

*Oh, I do not know* she said *I am sure you will think of something though. After all, the fate of this realm does lie in your quest.*

_No pressure right._ I said to her sarcastically.

"Her name is Ender" said a man next to the Crafter who had spoken before "That is cool, my name is Ender too, but you can call me E. This guy here is Dark."

E was a Crafter of average height, with the top half of a skull mask covering his eyes. He wore black pants and no shirt, which revealed the wide array of tattoos in various mob languages all over his back and chest. He was very muscular, and had hair the color of old ashes.

"So why are you guys here?" I asked, curious as to how they had come to be in this prison.

"Does it really matter?" asked E in a resigned tone "Most of us are in here for weird reasons that do not make any sense. It is not like we have much of a chance of getting out of this place any time soon."

"Do not be so negative" said a boy about Victor's age, wearing a pastel gray shirt, blue leggings and a pale pinkish belt. He pushed a few strands of his fair blond hair out of his eyes and walked over to where we stood "If you keep being so negative, there is no way you will ever find a way out of here. My name is Notchie by the way, it is nice to meet you."

"How are you always so cheerful" asked Shade in disbelief "You have been here longer than almost anyone else, and yet you are the one always trying to keep our spirits up."

"I don't know" said Notchie cheerfully "I guess it is just a part of who I am."

*This one does not act like most Crafters* said Mist, her voice contemplative *Perhaps he is the one you are searching for*

_That would be just a bit too convenient though wouldn't it. _I said _Although I do agree with you that he is different. Notchie is not exactly a common name, and when it is given, it is usually to Aetherians._

_ *_I shall agree with you on that* said Mist *We must watch this one carefully and protect him, for if he is a lord of stars, then he it the last hope for many*

_We have to find a way out of this place if we want to have any chance of fulfilling the prophecy. Do you have any ideas Mist?_

*Well* said Mist *The bands that you have block most magic, but the fact that you can still use your telepathic abilities, although with difficulty, suggests that some abilities that a being did not learn but rather was born with, may still be accessible. You should ask the others what they can do, and these powers may be able to aid you in your escape.*

_I shall see what I can do._ I said to her. "Guys" I asked quietly, looking quickly over my shoulder to see if the guards were near our cell "Do any of you have any magic that is not blocked by these bands?"

"I do" said Dark "I can summon a claw weapon. It is a part of my vampire bat magic."

"I can heat things" said Flare "Usually, I could light them on fire, but it makes my powers quite a bit weaker."

"I can make it rain" said Notchie "Possibly also summon lightning, but I have not tried that yet."

*That is impressive* said Mist *And it also lends further support to what I said*

"So how are we going to do this" asked E "I am more than happy with helping to take out some guards as long as we can get through these bars."

"I have got an idea" said Izra "But we can only make it work if the guards stay away for a while. If we are caught, well I do not really want to find what they would do to us."

"Lets hear it" said Victor "Anything has got to be better than just standing here."

"Well" said Izra "Those bars are made of iron right. I bet if Flare can heat them hot enough, they they will melt, and we would be able to leave this horrid place."

"Even if he did melt them" said Dark "How would we be able to get out? There would be a massive puddle of liquid iron in their place, and I don't know about you, but I am not immune to burning in puddles of molten metal."

"That is where you come in Notchie" said Izra "If you can make it rain, the metal will solidify and we will be able to get out."

"What about the archers?" asked Shade "They will be able to shoot us straight away. We will never get out then."

"Can you try to summon lightning?" Izra asked Notchie. Notchie paled a bit, but nodded hesitantly, doing his best to look confidant.

*The poor child* said Mist *So much responsibility put on him, and he does not actually know if he can accomplish what has been asked of him. We must assist him in any way we can.*

"You guys understand the plan?" asked Izra. When everyone, even those who had overheard what was said, nodded, Izra said "Well lets do this thing!"

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**A/N:I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. I would like to thank ****AgentKajiTheWolf**** for their OC shade, Spazington36 for their OC Victor, and DementedDarkness for their OC's Ender(E) and Dark. Please consider leaving a review, I read every one I am sent and it helps motivate me to write. I also need more questions for the characters, so those can be PM'ed to me or left in a review. I hope that you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D **


	17. Escape and Chases

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. I am sorry if last chapter was not as good as it could have been, I was having a bit of trouble writing it and just wanted to get it over with. This chapter should be better and I will probably go back an rework the last one when I have time. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer:I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Guard's POV**

I heard a commotion coming from the large cell where all of the prisoners were kept. I looked around, awkwardly, not wanting to leave my post, but a feeling in my gut told me that whatever was going on over there must be important. A glare from my unit leader thwarted any thoughts I had of leaving my post, though the nagging feeling of something wrong still lingered in the pit of my stomach. I just hoped that if any trouble did occur, then it would not be my job to clean up the mess.

**Ender's POV**

We had begun Izra's plan as soon as it had been completed. Fate had smiled upon us and the changing of the guard was taking place, giving us a few precious moments to carry out the first part of the plan without being discovered.

As soon as the pair of guards who's shift was over passed out of view, Flare darted over to the bars and clasped two of them tightly, one in each hand. He closed his eyes and stood there motionless. At first, nothing seemed to happen, and I wondered if Flare's magic was strong enough to heat the bars to a temperature hot enough so that they would melt. Then, all at once the bars took on a pale orange glow. The color quickly shifted, finally settling on a bright red color that was almost blinding to look at.

"Wow" said Victor "That is pretty impressive"

"This is nothing" grunted Flare. The large amounts of energy he was using to sustain the heat was clearly wearing him out quickly. "You should see what I can do when I have access to my full power."

The bars glowed a shade more brightly, if that was even possible, then drops of metal began to slide off onto the ground.

"Get ready Notchie" said Izra, eying the increasingly fast melting of the iron bars. "You are going to have to do your rain thing pretty soon now."

Notchie stood completely still, a terrified look in his eyes. Izra did not seem to notice, focused as he was on the status of the bars, but several of the other prisoners did. They began to murmur to each other, and if anything, Notchie only looked more scared after hearing them.

*We must help him* said Mist. Then, without waiting for me to respond, she sent to him *Why are you scared little one?*

Startled, Notchie whipped around, searching for what had spoken to him. Hoping to ease his fears a little, I walked over and knelt down beside him so that we were on the same level.

"You ok?" I asked, hoping to find out what had him so worried. I had a feeling I knew what it was, but I wanted to make sure.

"I guess so" he sighed.

*That is not true and you know it* said Mist.

Wide eyed, Notchie looked around once more.

"You can hear her can't you?" I asked Notchie in a low tone. He nodded shakily.

"Who is she?" he asked.

"A friend" I said "More than that can not be said here."

*I will help you* said Mist *Tell me, why are you so scared?*

Notchie whispered something in a voice so low I could not hear it. "What was that?" I asked.

"I do not think I can do this" said Notchie, his voice a bit louder this time. "I only ever made it rain once, and that was when I was cornered by some bullies here."

*How did causing rain stop the bullies?* asked Mist, voicing a question I had also been wondering about.

"It didn't" said Notchie, a look of sadness mixing with the terror in his eyes. "They kind of looked around confused for a bit, wondering how the rain had started so suddenly, then went back to bullying me. Then, just as I thought I could not take any more of their torment, three bolts of lightning came through the roof and one hit each of them. I felt the drain on my strength right away, so I knew that I had somehow caused the bolts." Tears filled Notchie's eyes and he rested his face in his hands "I meant to hurt anyone" he sobbed "All I wanted was to get away."

*Do not cry little one* said Mist. I hoped she knew how to handle this, because I did not think I would be able to help him at all. I figured telling him to live life and move on like I had always been told would not work in this particular circumstance. *Its all right* soothed Mist *Even if you did cause the lightning, it was not your fault. You were scared and cornered, and your powers reacted to try to protect you. It it those guy's fault if anything for bullying you and making you scared. They brought whatever happened upon themselves.*

"I guess you are right" sighed Notchie, looking up and wiping a few tears from his eyes "I just felt so helpless. And after it happened, a lot of the others avoided me. I think they were afraid I might do the same thing to them."

*Then they were wrong to do that* said Mist *Now, are you ready to make the rain fall?*

"Is it time?" asked Notchie, glancing over to where Izra was keeping careful watch over the bars.

"Almost" I said, seeing that Flare had moved where he was gripping to a lower section of the bars, and that section had also begun to drip drops of melted iron.

"Ok" said Notchie "I think I can do this"

*Do not worry* said Mist *I will help you out.*

_You can do rain spells?_ I asked her_ Why? I thought our people's magic was drained by water._

*It is* said Mist *But during the chaos war, some of the um... less loyal members of our people joined the other side, and it became useful to know at least a few water spells so that we could combat their magic.*

_Oh_ I said, not sure what else to say about that.

"It is time" said Izra "Notchie, do it."

Notchie looked startled, but complied, closing his eyes and tilted his head upwards, hands flat at his sides.

*You can do it* urged Mist *Go!*

I felt a shift in the balance of magic and knew that Notchie has managed to complete his rain spell. A light pattering sound could be heard, growing louder as the seconds passed. *Good, good* said Mist *It is working.* The hiss of water coming into contact with hot metal could be heard over by the front of the cell.

"Uh oh, hear come the guards" said E, sounding more pleased that worried by the revelation "What ever shall we do?"

"Probably smack them in the face and laugh" said Dark "Judging from your past track record"

"It is done" said Flare, releasing his grip on the bars ans taking a few shaky steps back. Izra quickly went to steady Flare.

"Give it half a minute, then run for it" said Izra "That should give us the time to get away from those guards."

"What about the archers?" asked Shade.

"Avoid direct line of sight ans keep moving" said Izra "Stay near the base of the towers if possible. The archers will have to shoot at an extremely low angle to hit you then."

I counted down the seconds until the waiting time had passed, making sure to watch Notchie. I could tell that his spell was still draining his energy, and I asked him quietly "Do you need any help?" He nodded, and I turned my back to him, gesturing for him to jump on. He did so, and I held him there piggyback style,

"Run" said Izra, barely audible over the sound of rain. The crowd of prisoners pushed towards the opening in the bars, rushing to be able to leave before the guards reached us and replaced the damaged section of the bars. I squeezed out behind Flare and headed left along the side of the prison. It occurred to me that although Izra had covered most of the major points of the plan, I did not recall if he had said where to meet up.

*That could be a problem* said Mist *But we have more pressing things to deal with first. If Notchie does not stop this spell now, he is going to pass out.*

_You deal with that_ I said _I have to focus on getting away from these guards._

**Mist's POV**

I reached out mentally to Notchie and said *You can stop your spell now child. The need is over and it is simply spending your energy now.*

I could tell that Notchie had no energy left to speak aloud, and so I was not surprised when I heard _I don't know how_. Sadness and worry filled even his mental voice, and it pained me to think of the horror that this child must have gone through in his young life to make him fear failure so much. He tried to be optimistic, but every happy word to another was laced with tendrils of his own unhappiness, invisible to all save those who were attuned to such things.

*I will help you figure it out* I assured him *Now, how did you start the spell?*

_I just kind of did_ he said _I closed my eyes and focused, and well, almost called out to the rain to fall, and it did._

*Try doing the same thing* I said *But this time, command it to stop.*

Notchie fell silent for a moment, no doubt trying to do this. I anxiously watched the rain through Ender's eyes, searching for any sign that Notchie had changed something. I finally saw a slight decrease in the number of falling drops and I sighed in relief.

*Are you ok?* I asked.

_I will be_ said Notchie_ I just need to rest now._

I sensed a small wave of tranquility wash over me, and I knew that Notchie, exhausted from pouring so much energy into the spell, had fallen into a deep sleep.

_Is Notchie ok?_ I heard Ender ask.

*Yes* I sent to her *He is merely sleeping. He managed to shut down his rain spell.*

_That's good_ said Ender _I don't know if I could have kept running through the rain for much longer._ It occurred to me that Ender had been running the entire time through the rain, a substance which drained the magic and energy of our people. An immense feeling of gratitude towards Ender came over me. She had Never questioned what Illusion or I were doing in this realm, perhaps sensing that it was a sensitive topic.

*Thank you* I said to her.

_For what?_ She asked.

*For just being there* I said

_Ok_ she said, confusion in her voice, but I knew that unconsciously she would know the significance of my words. Ender dashed sideways to escape another group of guards yelling at us to start. Ender kept running franticly, changing direction every so often to avoid further groups of guards that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"How many of these guys are there?" asked Ender breathlessly.

*A lot apparently* I said *Just keep going*

"I do not even know which way leads out of this horrid place any more" she said. We rounded another corner, and saw to our dismay that it was a dead end. "Uh oh" said Ender.

*Uh oh is right* I said *What are we going to do now?*

"Go back the way we came?" suggested Ender. She turned around, only to see that the guards had run into the alley.

*Well* I said *It was nice knowing you.*

_Same_ I heard Ender say _I do not think they will just put us in a cell this time._

**Flare's POV**

We gathered outside the large prison compound, waiting for the last of the escaped prisoners to meet us. After a few moments, during which the rain stopped, no more prisoners could be seen fleeing the site. Izra came back from checking who had made it out of the base and said to me "Ender has not come out yet. That kid she had with her, Notchie, is not here either."

"Where could she be?" I asked.

"Don't know" said Izra shrugging "We can wait a few more minutes, but we have to move after that. We are a bit exposed here. You and I can come back after dark to see if we can see her."

I spent the next several minutes staring at the compound, not taking my eyes from the place for fear of missing Ender.

"We have to go" said Izra gently, coming over to me. Reluctantly, I walked away from the hilltop where I had been watching the compound. I looked over my shoulder and caught one last glimpse of the prison before it was obscured by the hilltop. Sighing and wishing Ender the best of luck, I trudged after Izra sadly, wondering if I would ever see Ender again.

**Guard's POV**

The escape of the prisoners had lowered everyone's spirits immensely. They had only been able to retrieve two of the nearly two dozen prisoners who had made their escape. Everyone was on edge, sure that it would not be long before either Steve or Notch sent some type of punishment to us for allowing so many Crafter enemies to escape.

When the rest of my patrol went to the mess hall to eat, I snuck out through the back way to an out of the way corner of the base. Looking around to make sure I was not being observed, I broke a row of three grass blocks, revealing a small staircase down into the ground. I walked down into it, being sure to put the dirt back into place so that I would not be discovered.

I followed the passage for quite a way under the earth before it widened out into a larger room with a portal set into the wall. I went through the portal quickly, loathing the strange sensation as I had so many times before. Out of all the bits of the journey, that had to be the one which I liked the least.

When I reached the realm on the other side of the portal, I walked briskly down the passageway, not wanting to keep the one I was meeting waiting. I reached the room at the end of yet another long passage and knelt before the raised platform in the center of it. Atop the platform was an array of magic monitors with a chair facing them.

"Rise" a voice said, and a man stood up from the chair, then turned to face me. He was tall, but in the darkness of the room I could tell very little about him. "What have you come here to tell me?" he asked, his voice icy "It better be good. I do not appreciate being disturbed."

"The prisoners, they've escaped" I said "Only a few of them have been retaken. The entire compound is a mess, and everyone is really worried about what the realm lords are going to do about what happened."

"That is the least of their problems" the figure muttered. "You said they retook some of the prisoners" he said "By any chance do you know which ones it was?"

Happy to provide more information, I nodded "Yeah I do" I said "It was a girl in purple and a little kid wearing lots of pastel colors. Weird group actually but you take what you can get I guess."

"Interesting" the man said "I will have to investigate this further. Wouldn't want to make Teloxy think that things were getting easy now would we."

Having no idea what he was talking about, I figured it would be probably be beneficial to my health just to go along with whatever he said. "No we wouldn't want that" I hastily agreed.

"You can go now" the man said "I have to plan my next move now." As I walked from the room, I could hear the man talking to himself, planning the next move in his campaign.

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**A/N:I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are always appreciated and help me know what I am doing right. I also would appreciate any questions for the characters, which can be left in a review or sent to me in a PM. I hope that you all have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	18. Chaos Rising

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. We are almost to twenty chapters with this story, and judging by what I have planned, this story is going to end up being quite a bit longer than _Shadow's Story_. With that said, lets continue the story.**

**Disclaimer:I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Ender's POV**

It was dark. So dark I could not even see the silhouettes of anything around me. This confused me, for I would usually be able to see in almost complete darkness because I was an Enderlord. I reached up towards my eyes to see what was wrong and realized my hands were kept low in front of me by what felt like several short lengths of rope. This fact reminded me of the events which had led to me being in this unknown place as well as a possible explanation of why I could not see.

"So you are awake" I heard a voice say. I instinctively tried to look towards the source of the voice, then mentally smacked myself as I remembered that this was pointless. "Are you ready to answer some questions? Or would you like some more time to think about it?"

_What does he mean? _I asked Mist, my memory a bit hazy about what had happened since my capture.

*You needed rest* said Mist *The guard came by earlier and I dealt with him. He said that when we awoke again, there would be questions to answer*

_What about Notchie?_ I asked _Is he ok?_

*I do not know* sighed Mist *I have not heard any mention of him*

"Are you ready you darn prisoner?" asked the guard, mistaking my silence for unsureness.

*Do it* said Mist *Sometimes you can find out more from the questions they ask than they can from the answers you give.*

"I am ready" I said, my voice wavering slightly.

"Good" said the guard. I heard the soft clink of bars sliding back and a shuffle of footsteps coming towards me. A shove on the center of my back sent me staggering forward, but the ropes tied around my arms kept me from falling to the floor. A few seconds later, I heard the grating of a sword being run across ropes and my wrists were free. The pushing resumed, and I was directed out of what I presumed was a cell and shoved down a long corridor.

This process went on for many minutes, with much stumbling on my part and cries of annoyance from the guard whenever I did so. At last, I was shoved down in a chair. I felt some type of binding wrap around me.

I heard someone doing something behind me, then my blindfold was removed, allowing me to view the room I had been taken to. It was quite large, with only a few blocks of glowstone near where I sat to illuminate it. This resulted in the edges of the room being lost in shadows. With my magic still being severely limited by the bands I was not able to see into the darkness as I would usually be able to do.

One corner of the room however, was illuminated and I looked in dismay upon what was located there. An iron cage floated above a pit of lava. The floor of it was made of cobblestone, and a ring of pistons around it allowed for the retraction of these blocks, which would send whatever or whoever was inside plunging into the lava. What worried me most about this setup though, was the figure within the cage. Notchie lay on the floor of the terrible contraption. From where I sat, I could not see if he was injured, but I figured he would not remain unhurt for long if the trap was activated.

*This is not good* said Mist *I fear that what happens here with decide Notchie's fate. And if he is indeed a Star lord as I believe him to be, this realm's fate shall be decided along with his.*

"I see you have seen our little, um, incentive to answer our questions." as the man spoke, he stepped out from the shadows of the room's edge. His long, dark, hooded cloak covered his features, preventing me from telling if I had ever seen this person before. "I am sure your answers will provide us with much insight. Otherwise, your little friend here will pay the price.

**Izra's POV**

I was walking through the forest where we had set up our camp, looking for a safe way to return to the prison. We still had seen no sign of Ender or Notchie, and Flare and I were quite worried. Both E and Dark had also seemed quite concerned with what had happened to those two. They were trying to arrange some type of order in the camp while we looked for any trace of them. So far, I had not had any luck with finding the two. Usually, I was at ease at night, for I had little to fear from the creatures who dwelt in its shadows. There was something about this forest though that gave me the creeps. Maybe it was the complete lack of any kind of mob, but whatever it was, it worried me.

"So you are looking for your friends" I heard a voice hiss behind me. "I know where you can find them." I jumped and turned around quickly, looking for the source of the voice. I did not see any sign of the one who had spoken.

"Who is there?" I asked hesitantly.

"That is none of your concern" said the voice once more "You may be privileged to know that one day, but not now."

"Where are you" I asked, pressing my back against a tree in an attempt to prevent any creature from getting behind me.

"Ah, at last a question I can answer." the voice said "I am right here." A section of the closely spaced trees before me seemed to melt away, revealing a man standing there. He had dark gray, almost black, hair and robes, as well as light tan skin. A pair of goggles with thick lenses dangled around his neck.

"You said that you knew where my friends are" I said "How could you know that? And why would you tell me anyway?"

"Oh, I have my ways" the man said "As for why I would do it, lets just say that my lord does not want Teloxen's life to become too easy. After all, it would not be much of a challenge if everything went the way it was supposed to."

I was really wondering if this guy was insane, talking like he was about Teloxen's rule being some type of challenge. But he seemed to be the best chance that I had right now of finding out any information about where my friends were being held.

"Can you tell me then?" I asked, feeling a bit awkward about my request "Can you tell me where my friends are being held."

"Now I could do that" the man said "But you would have to something for me in return."

"What so I have to do?" I asked without hesitation. I was prepared to do almost anything at this point in order to help my friends.

"Oh, nothing now" the man assured "That would be silly. After all, you are going to want to run straight back to your friends after you hear the information. But you must not act on it or tell the others. I shall get your friends out and send them in the right direction to reach your little camp."

"What must I do in return?" I asked, a little worried about what type of thing I must have to do later on in exchange for the great risk this man was bringing upon himself.

"Do not worry about that now" he said "We will meet once more when I have freed your friends. I shall tell you what your payment is when that time comes once more. And just in case I have to come in disguise" he said, his eyes bright "My name is Sallen."

It was only after he had left suddenly and quickly that I realized he had never actually told me where my friends were being held.

**Lani's POV**

"They have returned" said Aleeta "Zeren and Sallen have come to this realm to take power for themselves."

"Teloxen won't like that" I said.

*There is not much he can do about it* said Mirage *His magic is no where near the level of power those two both have access to.*

*True* said Tanya, the Enderlord Ateeta was paired with, in the same fashion in which Mirage and I were.

"We must bring the news to the lord of this realm" I said "He must be warned of what is happening in the upper realms."

*But will he believe it* said Tanya *He has no reason to believe us, and is likely to think it is a chaos lord plot to get him involved in the conflict of the upper realms while his realm is taken by his enemies*

*Illusion will convince him to believe us* said Mirage *I just know it*

"You are wise to put your faith in that one" said Aleeta "Tanya, you should have more faith in Illusion. He was your lord for many years and served the kind well."

"We should go now" I said "The sooner the lord of this realm knows of the threat, the better"

"He does have a name you know" teased Aleeta "There is no need to be all formal and call him the lord of the realm and all that."

Quietly, so that Aleeta and Tanya could not hear her, Mirage said *I know you have taken a liking to him. But if you do not act on your feelings, you will only find regret and longing. I almost had the same thing happen to me, and you will never forgive yourself if you do not act.*

*Well, lets get a move on* said Tanya, oblivious to what Mirage had been saying. Aleeta and I prepared our teleport spells and used them to travel to Shadow's island.

**Illusion's POV**

Shadow was moping again, worrying about what was happening to Ender. He had been having bad dreams lately, and if things did not get better soon, I was worried about what would happen to him. Suddenly, I sensed something I had not felt since the chaos war.

"Wha?" said Shadow, looking up from where he lay on the bed. "Is there someone here?"

*I think there might be* I said, extending my mental reach in silent hope to see if I had been correct in my first impression of who had arrived.

*Who is there?* I sent.

*Is it really you Illusion?* I heard a voice ask, distant but clear and defiantly recognizable.

*Yes* I said *Is that you Mirage?*

*Yes* she said *I have missed you so much*

*Same* I said, reaching out and melding my mental bonds with hers. Before the chaos war, Mirage and I had ruled the Enderlords together. We had finally been married after she found enough courage within herself to agree to it. The week following that day had been the happiest one of my life. Then, the chaos lords relieved themselves, using those who had turned to their side to infiltrate our fortress and bring us down. I had not seen Mirage in all the years since we had been banished to live as spirits, and I had feared that she had been destroyed.

*There most definitely is someone here to see you* I said to Shadow *Multiple someones in fact. I would advise you to hurry to where they are, I doubt they will enjoy waiting*

"'Oh, alright" said Shadow, getting up from where he had been lying "Where are they?"

*Out in the courtyard* I said *Get a move on, we haven't got all day* Shadow picked up the pace a bit, heading down the long corridor that would eventually lead us to the courtyard.

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**A/N:So it appears that there are a few more chaos lords involved in this than anyone though. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving a review. A lot of random stuff has happened in the last couple chapters, so if you have any questions for characters, even the new ones, consider sending them to me. I hope that you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


	19. Arival and Rescue

**A/N:Hey, Ender here. This story is just over 1,600 views as of writing this, so I would like to thank you all for reading and helping to reach that number. Sorry that this chapter is so short as well as being out really late. Chemistry projects take aged to do. On with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer:I do not own the rights to Minecraft**

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**Shadow's POV**

I really did not know why Illusion was so determined for me to hurry to see whoever was in the courtyard. It was probably just another group of Endermen who wanted me to settle some argument or something. I walked slowly down the corridor, not caring that it would take me ages to get anywhere at this pace. Ever since Ender had gone, I had not felt motivated to do anything. There didn't really seem to be any point. I was going to be stuck here forever, with no one but Illusion and a few Endermen. The Endermen didn't even talk to me much anymore. I think they could sense that I wished to be left alone and so they took most of their troubles to Eclipse, the Ender dragon, to deal with.

Illusion just did not seem to get that I wanted to be left alone though. Whenever I tried to tell him to go away, he would always find some way to change the subject.

I finally reached the end of the corridor and went out into the courtyard. To my surprise, there actually was a group of creatures there. Several Endermen guards surrounded a pair of hooded figures. The figures wore almost identical hooded cloaks made of violet material with silver symbols and edging. One of them stepped forwards, and the movement revealed several slits cut into the back of the garment, as well as the reason they were there. A large pair of mostly purple feathered wings and a tail of the same color poked out from beneath the cloak.

_They are Enderlords!_ I gasped to Illusion.

*I know* he said.

_Why didn't you tell me?_ I asked, annoyed and unhappy with his deception.

*You would not have listened* muttered Illusion. *Anyway* he said *I did try to tell you that there was someone here who needed to see you immediately*

_I suppose you were right._ I sighed. To the Endermen who were surrounding the two figures, I asked "Where did you find these two?"

"They were just outside the castle" warbled one of the Endermen "They said it was very important that they talk to you right away."

"There is no need to talk as if we are not here" said the figure closest to me. The person reached up and flipped back the hood of her cloak, at the same time raising her wings and tail so that they were visible. Her first action had revealed dark hair with streaks of lighter blond highlights in it. Her eyes were cold and calculating, a violet hue which matched her wings.

As I took in her appearance though, her eyes faded to a lighter shade of purple then changed altogether to a pale teal. Her posture immediately shifted,and she looked a lot less aggressive than she had a moment before.

"Excuse Tanya's words" she said "I was not able to keep her from making herself known."

_Who is Tanya?_ I asked Illusion.

*She must be this one's spirit bond partner* said Illusion *Tanya was one of the main weapons designers before the chaos war. She really hates Chaos lords too.*

_I thought all Enderlords hated Chaos lords._ I said.

*Most do* said Illusion *Except those who betrayed us. But she has a particular grudge against Zeren. Do not bother asking me why though, she never really told anyone.*

"So why are you here?" I asked, hoping this would be over quickly, but at the same time welcoming the break from the self blame and guilt that had plagued me since Ender's departure.

"Is there somewhere less out in the open where we can talk?" she asked "Some things cause harm when heard by the wrong ears."

"Sure" I said. I defiantly knew that the wrong person hearing something could cause lots of trouble. Especially if whatever was being said was heard out of context.

I led the two people into a room near the outer edge of my castle. I still was not sure if I could trust them, and I was not about to take them any farther into my castle than I had to. What really surprised me about this whole thing though was that Illusion did not seem to have any problem with what I was doing. Usually, he would have been telling me over and over again that what I was doing was a terrible idea and that it was going to cause all kinds of horrible problems. Today though, I had not heard anything from him since he had told me about the people.

_Are you ok? _I asked Illusion.

*Wah?* he said *Oh yeah, yeah I'm good* He seemed a lot more distracted than usual, but I decided to let it go for now in favor of attending to my guests.

**Ender's POV**

"So" said the man who stood before me "I hope you are ready to answer some questions, because your friend's life depends on it."

I nodded reluctantly, really not wanting to, bur fearing for Notchie's safety.

"Good" said the man "Why did you and your little friends come to our realm? Have you come to spy for that creepy Herobrine guy?"

The way he said Herobrine's name made me wonder if he had been a victim of one of Herobrine's poorly thought out pranks, which usually did not end well,

"We did not come to spy" I said "And we are not mobs. We had just been in the Nether to gather some resources and we got lost. We were in there for quite some time before we finally found a portal that would lead us out of that horrid place. When we left the portal, your people captured us and locked us up, which was a bit annoying after all the trouble we had already been through."

"You say that" the man said "And yet when we found you, some of the guards said that they saw you shape shifting."

"Oh, well there is that" I admitted.

"So would you like to change your answer?" asked the man, taking a small step towards me.

"Uh, sure" I said. I was about to ask Mist for help in coming up with a better answer, when I heard a rumbling noise coming from the ceiling above where the man stood.

"Do you hear that?" I asked, puzzled as to what the sound could possibly be.

"Stop stalling" said the man, taking my question as another way to avoid answering the question for a bit longer so that I would be able to come up with an answer that would not reveal any secrets.

I was about to say that I was not stalling, when a large section of the ceiling right next to where the man was standing caved in, and a figure wrapped in a black cloak dropped into the room.

_Why do so many people where cloaks?_ I asked Mist as the man proceeded to jump on my interrogator, keeping a careful watch on the lever which would send Notchie into the lava as he did so.

*I do not know why so many people wear cloaks* said Mist *Probably because they hide who you are. Shouldn't you be thinking of more important things right now, like helping this guy take out your guard?*

_There is not a whole lot of things I can do when I am tied to a chair_ I said to her _Cheering is pretty much it right now with my magic limited the way it is, and I am not going to cheer for this guy. For all I know, he could be trying to capture me and take me somewhere even worse than this terrible place._

I continued to watch the man as he walked over from where the guard now lay on the floor, but as he approached I got a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach and the world went dark around me.

* * *

**A/N:I hope that you have enjoyed the chapter. Reviews are always appreciated and questions for the characters are also something I would love to see more of. I hope that you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D**


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